Cipe
by Joker Lover 892
Summary: M.K. invites her friends over for the weekend when they get thrown back into the Jinn world.
1. Chapter 1

"So, are you excited to see M.K. again?" Natalie Sweater said to her friend, Rosemary Smith. "It's been forever, hasn't it?"

"Mhm," Rosemary hummed, looking out the window of the cab that they called. "Gonna be fun, that's what they said. Out in the boring forest with boring trees and boring air."

"Now, stop, you big baby," Natalie said, playfully slapping Rosemary's leg. "It's this behavior that made you come here in the first place. That, and your constant wandering. You were almost lost getting to our meeting point! Plus, the thugs..."

"I got out of there safe and sound, see? I'm still here!" Rosemary snapped. "Just let's get this over with." She looked at her shy friend. "I-I didn't mean it that way, I mean-"

Natalie sighed and put her hand on Rosemary's shoulder. "It's okay. I know what you meant. You still got your pads? For just in cases?"

"In my bag. Bomba better have some chocolate," she said, leaning out the window. "Otherwise, I just might die."

The cab turned into a old house in the middle of the woods with tall grey walls, a red ceiling, and webs all over the top of the house. Rosemary sighed and looked around. Trees were everywhere, alive and well. It was still summer, so the leaves were still green and attached on the trees, except the ones that fell from the last few winters and falls. Once the cab stopped, Natalie and Rosemary left it and Natalie handled the payment. Rosemary grabbed the luggage and they went inside once they found out the door wasn't locked.

"Mub, stop being a pain, I would like to speak with Nod, too," they heard MK say.

"Sure thing, Baby-Girl," they heard a male voice reply. "It's for you."

"Thank you, Mub," another male voice said. "Sorry about that, M.K."

"Eh, no big. So, you like Queen Dandelion Jinn?" M.K. asked the mysterious voice.

Natalie and Rosemary walked into a big computer room with monitors everywhere. M.K. was talking to a boy in one of them. "She's a great queen, always thinking of the forest first," the male figure on the screen said.

"Alright," M.K. laughed. "I've got to go, I'm expecting my friends to come over. Yay!" She smiled in the monitor. "Bye, Nod. Tell Mub I told him, bye!"

The monitor blanked out and M.K. turned and saw her two friends. "Natalie! Rose! How long have you been there?"

"I told you not to call me 'Rose'!" Rosemary snapped. "And we walked in at you telling someone they were a pain."

"Oh, Mub," M.K. smiled. "He is. He has this dilution that we'll get together someday." She laughed.

"Who wouldn't?" Natalie asked. "You're beautiful! Look at you! I wish I had a body like that!" She started pulling at her blonde hair. "I'm stuck with this."

"And low self-esteem," Rosemary butt in. "But at least you know who you are, not like some people." She started twisting her brunette hair and played preppy. "Oh my gosh, I am like so totally perfect and you are all like my royal subjects-ah!" She rolled her eyes and straightened her hair. "Yeah, right."

"This is why I dragged her along," Natalie said. "She needs a few weeks away from the electronics and... People, for that matter."

"Yeah, maybe a few weeks away might do her some good. So, how is it in the big city?" M.K. asked.

"Exciting, compared to this place," Rosemary groaned. "By the way, who were you talking to?"

"No one you know," M.K. answered. "Hey, my dad's not going to be starting dinner for a while, wanna go out for a forest walk?"

"Why not?" Natalie said happily.

"Joy to the world," Rosemary snarled.

M.K. wrote a note to her dad and left it on the table. Once they left the house, the fresh air hit them all in the face. They walked in silence for a while. M.K. was being cautioned about where she stepped. Soon, Rosemary tripped over a dead tree branch, shouting out in pain. She checked her leg immediately as M.K. looked at the tree branch.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Rosemary snarled.

M.K. tenderly picked up the branch and gasped. "It's back," she said. "I wonder if this means- Oh, no." Her eyes widened and she searched the ground for something.

Natalie and Rosemary sighed and shook their heads. As M.K. looked, they decided now was a good time to rest. They sat down and sighed. When they looked back at M.K., she was gone.

"Where'd she go?" Natalie asked.

Rosemary went to where she had been kneeling a minute ago and felt around for footprints. She touched a small orange plant with a red stem and a green dot on a certain spot. She looked over at Natalie, who walked over to the plant. They looked at it and sighed. Rosemary touched it, ignoring Natalie's please to go back to the house.

The next thing she knew, she was getting smaller.

Natalie stared in horror as her friend shrank. She almost screamed, but fell off balance and hit the flower's green spot full handed. She shrank along with her friend. When they were done shrinking, they saw M.K. standing there with her hands blocking the sun from her eyes. Rosemary stood up and looked at the tree that two seconds ago looked so medium. Now it was bigger than the biggest tree she'd seen on the highway. Natalie looked up and started freaking out.

"Don't panic," M.K. said. "Some of the people here are my friends."

Rosemary helped up her friend and glared at M.K. "What do you mean 'people'? No one is this small! We shouldn't even-"

"Baby-Girl!" They heard a shout of the same person that M.K. was talking to. "What're you doing here?"

M.K. turned. "Hi, Mub," she said, smiling. The two girls turned and saw a slug come toward them. "How're you doing?"

"Pretty good. Um, who are the other two?" the slug, Mub, asked.

Rosemary looked at him scared. "He talked. The snail. It talked!"

"He's a slug, no shell," Natalie whispered, as she always does in front of people she doesn't know. "Animal Science and common sense."

"Where's Nod?" M.K. asked. "And Grub? And General Ronin?"

Mub smiled. "Follow me, M.K.," he said. "They're having a meeting for if Mandrake comes back."

"Let's go, girls," M.K. said.

Rosemary, not one to follow orders, or paying attention when it would be really helpful, walked the opposite direction. Natalie stuck by M.K. like glue. _I'm not taking orders from a slug. He doesn't know what I've been through. He doesn't control my life._ She kept walking through the forest and turned, not seeing them behind her. _Good, now they won't know where I've gone._ She smiled and she kept walking in the opposite direction. She decided to test out her body in case something wasn't right. She ran for a while, did a summer-Sault, than stood. She jumped and found she could jump much higher then she could ever. She did a back-flip, front-flip, and jumped around for a bit. Once she was done with that, she walked a little farther. After a while, it seemed as if the green would never end. Then there were dead leaves, dead grass, and one big freaking hole.

She looked in it and saw a bunch of bugs, and one weird looking dude with blue skin, a strong figure, a rat's skin cloak, and a black staff. He was starting to climb the hole and Rosemary snapped down to hide herself. Once he got out, she could see him more clearly. He was tall, shiny arms, and when he looked at her, she could freckles dotting his cheek bones. He smelled like a dead rat and he had yellow eyes.

He pointed his staff at her with the bubbly side pointed to her. "Who are you?" he asked.

Rosemary gulped. "Rosemary. Who are you, might I ask?" she said, not one to give information without gaining some in return.

He snarled and put the staff a little closer, then brought it out a little. He thought a moment, then smiled evilly, then kindly. "You're not from around here, are you?" he asked soothingly.

"No," Rosemary said, now confused. "Why? How did you know?"

He put his staff away from her completely. "No reason. I just haven't seen you around the forest, that's all. My name is Mandrake." He held out his hand for Rosemary to shake. "Mind if I call you Rose?" he asked politely.

_Yes,_ she thought, and then thought about the staff and how easily he could have killed her. "Of course not, Mandrake," she smiled, not shortening his name in case he had a major problem with anything she came up with. "So, what's the thing with the automatic kill sequence?"

"Ah, yes, my apologies," he said, starting to turn. "We've had a Leafmen situation before and I didn't want to take any chances."

Rosemary smiled, glad the question didn't end up with her getting hurt. "So, I guess I'm free to go?" she asked, hoping the answer was yes so she could find a way out of this crazy place.

"No," Mandrake said, turning to look at the girl. "You must not leave in case the Leafmen find you and... hurt you."

Rosemary thought a moment. "But what about my friends, M.K. and Natalie?" she asked, knowing it was stupid to mention names but didn't care. He made his point, and he had perfectly good reasons for her not to leave.

"M.K.?" he asked, curious. "Does she have red hair and a pink sweater?"

"It used to be pink," Rosemary said. "I'm not sure what color it is now, but it's not pink."

Mandrake nodded. "I see. She made her choice last time she came here. Don't feel bad for her." He shook his head. "She could have worked with me. Instead, she let Ronin take over what she did here. Poor girl."

"Who's Ronin?" she asked, knowing how stupid she sounded.

Mandrake turned to walk away, motioning her to follow with his hand. "The general of the Leafmen army," he answered. "We'll get you a room and have this whole thing figured out before your friends figured out that you betrayed them to the real solution. Or, at least, that's what I tell the others." He laughed a little.

"Okay," she said. "Solution to what, exactly?" She looked at the dead plants everywhere. "The inflammation in oxygen?"

"Honestly, I don't even know. One of my generals started it and I thought it was a good idea to keep up with even after he died. He was my best general." He looked at her while standing on the lip of the cave. "Leafmen. You coming?" He held out his hand. "I promise no one will hurt you if you're by my side."

"Sure..." Rosemary said, taking his hand. She stood at the top and they jumped in together. "So, what would have happened if I had jumped in without you?" she asked.

Mandrake and Rosemary landed on the ground. "You probably either would get killed or injured and brought to me," he said with pride. "I taught them that." He smiled as some of the bugs came to 'greet' them. "Calm," he ordered and all of them stopped. "I taught them that, too."

He and Rosemary started walking past them, and with each glare, Rosemary leaned closer Mandrake, hoping none of them would be dumb enough to hurt her if just missing their leader. She stayed close to him and looked at all the others. She soon figured out that she was scared. Not just that. She was terrified. A shivered crawled up her spine. She was never scared by anything before. Now she was leaning on him for support! She would have moved away but didn't want to get killed by bugs.

After a minute, she felt him stop, so she stopped a step ahead of him then stepped back. He turned around and had her let go, which was hard when a paper couldn't be placed between them. "My army, this is Rosemary," he bellowed so everyone could hear even if they weren't there. "She will be helping us out around here and with the Leafmen. If any of you even think about hurting her, I will kill you." He looked at her and held out his hand. She took it as he led her away. "Feel better?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked back, trying to sound brave. "I'm perfectly fine!"

"You can feel when someone is afraid when they're next to you. Especially if they feel like they're trying to strangle your arm," Mandrake said, nodding to his arm.

Rosemary let go of his hand gently. "Sorry, guess I was a bit nervous," she admitted. "But it won't happen again, I promise."

"Don't get my hopes up, and don't make promises you can't keep," he said. "I learned that one the hard way."

"Gotcha," she said, walking close to him but keeping her distance so he couldn't feel her tenseness. "Don't make bad promises." She looked around. "I can promise that I'll probably never forget today."

"Good promise," he smiled.

They walked into a house type place. "This is where I live, the guest room is here, too," he said, looking at her. "Want me to show you around or...?"

"Yes, please," she said, not willing to have the only reason she's still there leave.

He looked surprised that she answered so quickly, then regained his composure. "Then let's go," he said, walking in. She tried to keep in step with him.

M.K. and Natalie were riding Mub because Natalie's feet started to hurt. They were riding him for a while before a bird started flying above them. It landed beside them gently. A man with dark brown hair, leafy clothes, and brown eyes jumped from it. He smiled and walked toward them.

"The meeting's over," he said.

M.K. jumped off of Mub. "Nod!" she squealed. "Hi!" She jumped in his arms. When they separated, she turned. "Nod, this is Natalie. She's a friend."

"Ah, Queen Jinn said there were new people in the forest, but where's the other one?" he asked.

"We don't know where Rosemary went to. She was with us, then, poof, no Rosemary," Natalie whispered. "You don't think something bad happened to her, do you?"

"Nah, nothing bad happens around here normally," Nod said. "I'm sure she'll turn up."

"Unless Mandrake got to her," M.K said, looking at her boyfriend. "Then there's no hope for her. He hates the Leafmen and will automatically assume that she's one." She thought a minute. "Oh, no."

"But, Rosemary's an adventurer person," Natalie said. "She would openly go against authority. That's why I brought her here. So that she'll learn to stay with others and... Oh, gosh no!"

"Don't worry," Nod said, looking at them. "I'm sure she just took a wrong turn while you were walking, no big deal. She'll turn up, I'm sure of it." He smiled. "I promise. She's probably good inside. Her common sense will take over and she'll come running." He put an arm around M.K. and looked at Natalie. "Would you like to ride the bird?"

M.K. laughed. "Not with you," she joked.

"I'm with M.K.," Natalie said, worried. "I know she won't try to kill me."

Even though Natalie was a couple years older than M.K., she acted like the younger sister she never had. "Let's go," M.K. said, climbing on the bird. "We can't wait forever."

"Right," Mub said. "Let's go!"

"Um, are you sure, M.K.?" Natalie asked, looking at the bird's front helmet piece. "It doesn't look safe."

"It's safer than riding a plane over the Pacific," M.K. answered, helping Mub up on the bird. "Come on, Natalie, help Mub up."

"Um, okay," she said.

It took a minute, but they got the slug on the bird, much to the bird's complaints. Then Nod got on. He held out a hand. "Come on, it's completely fine," he said.

"How much weight does the bird handle?" Natalie asked, calculating the weight of her and the drop in her head.

"Fine, if you'd rather walk," Nod said.

Natalie nodded. "That would be fine if there was someone to escort me there," she said fast. "But I guess I'll wing it if no one wants to."

"I'll do it," a voice said from behind. Natalie turned, though everyone else already knew who it was. "General Ronin, at your service." He stretched out his hand.

"Natalie," she said, smiling. "May I walk with you?"

Ronin held out his arm. "It would be my pleasure," he said, looking at the bird. "You have a problem with heights?"

"And about everything else a Stomper could be afraid of," M.K. said.

Natalie took the general's arm and started walking. Nod started up his bird and took off. While the two were flying, they were catching up.

"Do you really trust him?" Natalie asked, looking at Ronin.

He looked up. "No, but what's there to fear when he's got M.K. and Mub around?" he asked.

"Who is this Man-something I keep hearing about?" Natalie asked.

"Mandrake is the man who keeps trying to destroy the forest. Even more so since his son died."

"Who killed him?"

"I did. I was aiming at Mandrake, but missed. Now, the whole forest pays."

Natalie looked up at his sad face. "Why'd you take the chance? Couldn't you have left them alone?"

"No, they were trying to kill the... Queen Tara. They succeeded, though." He looked down. "It was a sad day for us all until Nim Galuu put a happy face on everything." He looked at Natalie. "That was the first time M.K. came. She helped us save the forest, and that included the pod." He laughed. "I still don't know how she got those bats away from the moon for the pod to bloom."

"The phone he has, it has an app that makes a bat sound," Natalie explained. "It's one of the benefits of the new technology." She laughed. "The side effects, you could turn into another Rosemary."

Ronin looked at her. "Who?" he asked.

"She's not here. If she were here, she would have wanted to drive the bird," Natalie said. "I brought her here to get away from the technology and show her that the forest is an exciting place, more than her phone." She sighed. "Then this happened and we walked and then she was nowhere to be seen."

Ronin looked at her as she was trying not to cry. "None of this is your fault," he said, putting a supportive arm around her. "All you happened to do was come into the forest."

"I know, it's just, I don't know," Natalie said. "I feel like if I never brought her here none of this would have happened."

Ronin chuckled a little. "No, the only thing that would have changed is that your friend wouldn't be lost right now." He looked at her and knew he said something wrong. "But even so, if she was meant to be here, she'll turn up."

"That's what Nub or Nap or-"

"Nod," Ronin said.

"Right, right. That's what Nod said," Natalie said.

"Really? Then maybe I'm wrong," he said, making Natalie seem confused, then laughed at the joke. "There we go. If I have to lighten up, so do you." They laughed a little then stopped for a minute.

"What are Stompers?" she asked.

Ronin looked at her. "People who are bigger, slower, and some are dumber than we are," he answered. "Don't worry, you seem like the average intelligent ones."

"Thanks, I think..." Natalie said, still not sure about the conversation. "So, slugs can talk?"

"Mub and Grub? Yeah, they can. It's actually annoying sometimes." Ronin shook his head. "But don't worry, it's not like that all the time. From time to time, Mub shuts up. Grub is more the quiet one. You would like him," he said, smiling reassuringly.

"I'm sure," she said.

"Nod, watch where you're flying!" M.K. yelled.

"Still the bird can fly herself better than I will ever," Nod said. "Mub's having fun."

They looked at the slug who leaned his head out and stuck out his tongue. They laughed a little and ducked under a tree branch.

"Let's land a moment," M.K. said, nodding.

Nod laughed. "And have them beat us there? I don't think so!" he yelled over the wind.

"I can barely hear you," M.K. said back.

Nod shrugged. "Oh, well!" he laughed.

"You're a jerk."

"Maybe, but I'm loveable!"

She hit his shoulder and smiled. "I'm lovable!" she shouted. Nod rolled his eyes and, as payback, flipped the bird a few times, causing her to almost fall.


	2. Chapter 2

Rosemary sat on her bed, looking at the dark ceiling. Everything there was black and dusty. She smiled. Then she remembered the horrible fate that awaited Natalie. Forced to be on a side that she didn't even know about. They were probably feeding her lies about Mandrake being the mean one. But they couldn't sway her, no matter how much they tried. She sat there in the shadows for a long time thinking about her poor friends, when the door flew open. She sat up and saw a mosquito-type thing looking in.

"Yes?" I asked it.

He stood up straighter and looked at me, as if not expecting me to be awake. "You are needed by Lord Mandrake, Miss Rosemary," he said with a little bow.

"Thank you," she said. Hm, talking bugs _and_ slugs. Fantastic! She got up and walked behind the mosquito who seemed to be the one leading her.

They entered a really dark room that held a really big chair in the middle. Mandrake was seated in it, beckoning her over. She decided it was probably the best thing to do, since she still didn't trust that she'd be killed behind her back if she made the wrong move, and looked up at him.

"Hello, Rose," he said from his throne. "How are you?"

Rosemary thought to choose her words carefully. "Good, sir, very good."

"You wanna know something funny?" He didn't let her answer before he said, "I was buried alive in a tree."

"How'd you escape?" Rosemary asked without a second thought.

Mandrake smiled."You see, I knew you were going to ask me that. It took me a while, but I finally clawed myself out of that tree. It was a few weeks after I was buried, too. My nails were long and sharp so I started digging out. In about two weeks I dug myself out. It was easy, too. They didn't expect anything until I sent out my little bugs to help me with my reunion party. It was fun. Cake, presents, screaming of the evil flowers, good times."

"Why-who buried you?" she queried, looking at him.

He looked stern. "Now, that one should have been obvious," he said, displeased. "Maybe I think too much of you. Their queen did, with her evil magic."

"Magic?" Rosemary asked. "What-how-where?"

"I know, it's hard to comprehend sometimes," Mandrake said, putting his hand on his chest. "But, for some reason I just feel like if you joined me, then that wouldn't happen again." He held out his hand. "Join me, Rose. Together we can rule the forest the right way."

"You," she gulped. "You mean form an alliance against my friends?" _What would they think of me? I would have betrayed them._

Mandrake stood from his throne. "Your friend will not die, they will purely get sent back to their own size until they are needed," he said, smiling. "You're a smart girl, you know who the real enemies are, why are you fighting your knowledge?" He walked down to her level, so they could see eye-to-eye. "Join me, Rosemary. The real enemy is out there, waiting to kill all of us. They are the murderers, Rose. They started this unnecessary battle when they killed my son. I only killed their last queen after they shot my son. I'm not the enemy here." He stretched his arm out a little more, an evil glint in his eye.

She crossed her arms, which made him put his hand back in surprise. "And if we join forces," she said, "you're absolutely positive that my friends will be safe, that I won't have to choose between my life and theirs?"

His smile got larger. "I promise," he said.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," she said, taking his hand in hers. "Don't forget, I can still choose to fight against you if you openly target my friends."

Mandrake's smile weakened, and then got stronger again. "Of course. That's how it always works around here." He nodded and they shook hands twice with satisfaction. "Do you know your way back to your room, or should I call for someone?"

"I'm good," she said, letting go. "I just need to know where the restrooms are."

Mandrake laughed. "This is a joke, isn't it?" he guessed. "Or…"

Rosemary sighed. "You have no clue what I'm talking about, do you?" He shook his head. She sighed again. "So you just do your business anywhere?" He looked confused. "I'm in my room," she said, walking away.

"Okay…" Mandrake said, going back to his throne. He sat down and smiled. Once he was sure she was gone, he laughed. "Maybe she can be helpful," he said once he stopped laughing. "But her friends need to get out of the question. Let's see, she does need to show that she knows what she's doing. Give her a chance to penetrate their defenses, do what she needs to do, then come out with something very special to them. Hm." He thought, and then snapped his fingers. "Their queen. Kidnap the queen, she'd have shown her loyalty. Perfect!" He started laughing again. "She'll bring her to me, and then we'll kill her, maybe even push Rose out! Yes, perfect!"

"And here we are," Ronin said, pushing back a blade of grass just for her. "Right this way, Natalie."

Natalie smiled. "Thank you, Ronin," she said, now more comfortable with the general, knowing what happened around the forest.

She walked forward and saw a big tree with people going to and from it. Not just people, but plants as well. She looked at all of them and then at Ronin. She looked at the sky, half expecting it to have set mostly because of all the walking they did. It barely looked like it moved at all. Maybe an hour or so, but that was about it. The next thing she saw was a few flowers moving around going toward Ronin.

They all were shooting him with questions like they were shooting him with a machine gun. Natalie took a step away from all the chaos and breathed. He quieted everyone down and turned to her. Beckoning her with his hand, he led her through the crowd and into the tree. Once inside, they went into a room in the back and stopped.

"What was that all about?" Natalie asked him, her eyes popping out of her head.

Nod and M.K. came through the curtain. "Why M.K.'s back and who you are, Natalie," Nod said. "I had the same question in my head, just didn't want to say it aloud."

Natalie looked around. "Well, shouldn't I feel just special, huh? My best friend is gone and it's all my fault because I should have never forced her to come here and I just feel…" She started crying.

"Send her to a room," Ronin commanded Nod. "I'll keep watch just in case."

"Yes, sir," Nod said. He took his two fingers and moved them back and forth in the 'this way' sign. "Come on, M.K., you and her share a room."

"Sleepover!" both of the girls squealed, jumping up and down. "Yes!"

Ronin almost felt sorry for the young man, but decided that he deserved it, being he was the one that started the whole thing with M.K. in the first place. He walked over to the party where Nim was distracting everyone with his music, making an easy get-away for the soldier. He had a rough day. He never had to do so much explaining in one walk. He was a mix of power of knowledge and on the verge of sleep. There was no time for in-between sleep now. He had to make sure the girls didn't get killed, plus find this Rosemary and take her back, then stop Mandrake once and for all. No, time was either sleep or awake, no in-between. He yawned and looked at the setting sun. So much to do, so little time.

He sighed and looked up. The sun was setting behind the horizon, and Ronin smiled, remembering watching that with Tara. He suddenly thought of Natalie. He didn't know why, but she just reminded him of Tara so much. He didn't understand it, she wasn't as shy as Natalie, and didn't look like her, either. Not in her short blonde hair or in her petite feet. But there was just something about her that kept tugging at him, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He decided to think about it later. He didn't have time to figure it out at all. He decided to try to go to sleep, not needing anything to stall him.

"Okay, Natalie, M.K., this is where you guys will be staying," Nod said, leading them into a room with leaves hanging down all the walls and some vines separating the room. "I hope you have fun."

The two girls walked in and smiled. "Okay, thank you," Natalie said, happy she got her own bed. "That's very sweet of you."

"It was the Queen's idea," Nod said, looking at the girls. He nodded and walked outside.

"Okay, this is actually going to be fun," Natalie said. "I mean, I'm in a room with someone who's done all this before!"

M.K. looked at her apologetically. "Actually, I've never slept here before. I didn't even stay past the moon's highest point." Natalie looked at her like she was from a different world. "Midnight," she rephrased.

"What?"Natalie asked. "Did you even sleep here before?"

M.K. smiled. "No, we didn't have time to sleep. I had to save the pod then I was sent back." She looked at her frightened friend. "Sorry to raise your hopes for nothing."

"You mean this is a first for you, too?" Natalie yelled, almost hyperventilating. "You betrayed me!"

"No, I'm still on your team, so I haven't betrayed you," M.K. explained. "Besides, it's better than not telling you at all."

Natalie breathed fast and started fanning herself. "Oh, no, oh, no, I need a bag!"

M.K. looked though her bag and found nothing. She took her friend to a wall and put a leaf over her mouth like it was a paper bag. Natalie breathed to calm herself calm down and took the leaf away from her mouth.

"Thank you," she said, going to her bed. "Better."

M.K. smiled. "Of course, it's made of the same material, that's why I knew it would work," she explained, petting the leaf. "You would be amazed how much stuff is made out of natural resources."

"Right," Natalie said, rolling her eyes. She looked out the window. "It's getting dark out, let's go to sleep."

M.K. smiled. "Sure, you're right, we should."

Quickly they made their beds and laid down. M.K. slept quickly, but Natalie stayed up a little longer. She just laid there, staring at the ceiling. Going through everything that could happen wrong. Silently, she stood and started pacing, not noticing Ronin entering the room. Carefully, he placed a calming hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?" he whispered to her, feeling her tense up.

She turned and saw the Leafmen general. "Yeah, I guess," she whispered back. "Did I wake you?"

Ronin shook his head. "No, I was just making sure all the rooms were secure for the night, like I always do. Especially when I can't sleep."

Natalie felt a little better that someone was making sure the place was safe for everyone. "Okay," she said, smiling. "Thanks, I'm fine."

Ronin laughed a little. "Want to help?" he asked, holding out an extra sword.

"I-I would love to," Natalie said. "But I don't know how to use a sword."

Ronin smiled. "It'll come to you. Someone as paranoid as you? Would be second nature to you." He put the sword in her hands. "Come on, I just started on the search."

"Thank you," Natalie said. "Are you sure I won't just get in the way?"

"Nonsense!" he said, starting to walk with her. "If anyone gets in the way, it's Nod, not you." They started chuckling. "Besides, four hands are better than two, right?"

"Yeah, right," she chuckled. "Better."

They walked out of the room and checked the others for things that seemed out of the ordinary. After they found nothing, Ronin showed Natalie back to the room. It was darker, so she had to feel her way around it to get to her bed again, then she fell asleep the next time she blinked.


	3. Chapter 3

All she could see was black. Rosemary tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't. It was against the rules. She couldn't look until she was done counting. She was almost done, all the way to twenty-one! The most she counted before was twenty. The realization hit her like a bus. She was only supposed to count to twenty.

"Okay, daddy!" she cried. "I'm gonna find you!"

From somewhere away, she heard her father's voice say, "You can try, princess, but can you succeed?"

She laughed. "Daddy, I'm already seven! Stop giving me hints to where you are!" The smile of the seven year old didn't leave her face as she found her father. "I got you!" she said, trampling him.

Both of them laughed. "Honey, I want you to promise me something," he said, picking her up in his arms.

"Anything, daddy," Rosemary said, laughing.

Her father placed her on the floor. "I want you to promise that if there's anyone who can harm you, you leave there immediately," he said, looking her in the eyes. "Bad things could happen to good people if you don't."

"Words to live by," a middle aged black man with a rich Mexican accent and black hair said. "What about this now, we show her what would happen to her if she disobeys." He lifted a pistol to her father's chest.

Her father panicked. "Please, Joshua, can't we talk about this?" he pleaded.

"Daddy, who is this?" Rosemary asked her dad, looking up at him with young, innocent eyes.

Joshua smiled. "Just a friend," he said. "But everyone knows you can't spell friend without end." With that, he shot the pistol and pointed it at the child. "Tell no one I was here, got it?"

"Y-yes, sir," Rosemary stammered, feeling all the playfulness she had just a few seconds ago drain out of her. "I promise, I won't."

"Very good, it's that tone that will get you through life alive."

The scene turned into another one. Rosemary, now of age ten, looked up at her mother with fear in her eyes. There was a reason her father kept her away from her. She was a drinker, and abusive when she was drunk. She learned from Joshua that you should always listen to those who could kill you. Her dad just taught her that she shouldn't press her luck with people. She just took what she got.

Her mother stalked toward her, beer bottle in her hand. "What did you just say to me?" she asked aggressively. "You think you're all high and mighty now that you're ten, huh?"

"No, of course not, Mom," she said, stepping back. "I just thought you cared that it was my birthday, that's all."

Her mom took another swing at her kid. "No one cares, you self obsessed little pain!" She drank some more of her beer and slowed down, feeling the world spin around her. "What did you do to my drink?" she shrieked, falling to the ground. "You stupid… ignorant…" She trailed off into a sleep.

Rosemary took her chance to end it all. She took a kitchen knife from a wall from when her mother threw it at her on her ninth birthday and sank it into her heart. She took it out slowly and looked at the blood dripping off the blade.

Mandrake was going to see if Rosemary was still in the cave when he heard crying. It wasn't loud, but he could hear it when it was as quiet as it was. He walked calmly to where the sound was coming from and found Rosemary, sniffling slightly, tears streaking down her face. He walked in and knelt beside her. He wiped tears from her cheeks.

"It's okay," he said, soothingly. "No one will harm you-"

"-I promise," Jeffery told Rosemary, now an eleven year old orphan. "How's about we go check out that bar across town?"

Rosemary was unsure. "Are you sure, that's for grown-ups," she reminded her boyfriend, who have been dating her for a few weeks now.

"It's fine, just have to stop by my house for… Something." He looked at her worried face. "Come on, it'll be fun."

Rosemary looked at Jeffery's face and shrugged. How bad could it be? She took his arm and walked with him.

They reached his house and he lead her in. He brought her to his room and shut the door, locking it.

"Wha-what are you doing, Jeffery?" Rosemary asked, backing away from him.

Jeffery started taking off his shirt. "What do you think, Rose?" he asked, throwing himself at her.

Rosemary started tossing in her sleep. Mandrake tried to wake her up before she woke up the whole cave and gave their position away.

"Rose," he whispered, hearing worry he didn't even know was there. "Rose, wake up, please. Rose!"

She started with a jolt, subconsciously slapping the figure in front of her. She jumped up and ran out of the room, knocking Mandrake to the ground, and then stopped, remembering where she was. Not at Jeffery's, the slime. Just at Mandrake's. She started calming down, then turned to go back to sleep. Then she saw Mandrake stand up and adjust his jaw, making sure it still worked.

"What was that?" he asked angrily.

Rosemary blushed. "It was just… bad memories." She avoided Mandrake's gaze. "I had a pretty crappy childhood."

Mandrake stopped checking his jaw and picked up his rot staff. "Some memory," he said, looking back at her. "You wanna talk about it?"

Rosemary looked at him. "Y-no, you wouldn't understand," she said after a minute, turning again.

"Who said?" he asked, coming up behind her and putting a re-assuring hand on her shoulder. "What about this, we share past experiences before we go to sleep. That should lower your… what was that?"

"A nightmare," she answered. "That's what we call them, anyway." She turned and looked at his blue-gray face. "Why are you here, anyway? Couldn't sleep?"

He thought a moment. "No, I thought you escaped, so I decided to check it out," he said. "Heard you crying so I decided to stop you before you woke up the whole cave."

She smiled thinking this was reasonable excuse enough. "I'd better get back to sleep before tomorrow," she said, sneaking past him.

"Good idea," he said. "Tomorrow, then."

_Man, he's persistent,_ she thought, but smiled. "Of course," she said, moving toward her bed. "And, by the way, Mandrake," she added, but turned to see he had already left the room. "Thanks," she finished, knowing he couldn't hear her.

The next day, Natalie and M.K. woke up and walked over to each other, sharing their dreams. Comparing which one was weirder. Just like old times.

"Oh, my gosh," Natalie said, going first. "There was this unicorn that started telling me that I was a 'chosen one' to lead a rebel army. So I lead them to battle some green toad that started beating me up later."

"My dream was about Nod leaving me," M.K. said.

Natalie laughed. "I thought I heard you crying!" she said, not containing herself.

"What's so funny?" a girl at the door asked. She was a dandelion, smiling slightly. "If it's about me, I would like to know." She patted down her white dress.

"No, it's nothing, Your Majesty," M.K. said, bowing for the Queen.

Natalie decided to follow suit. "Please, I'm flattered," she said. "But, really, I should be bowing to you. You helped me become the Queen of the Forest." She bowed a little. "For that, I am eternally thankful."

"It was nothing," M.K. said, looking up at her. She straitened herself, with Natalie following her moves. "Just helped Mandrake not destroy your pod."

" 'Nothing'?" The Queen asked. "By the way, who's your friend?"

M.K. put her arm around Natalie. "This is Natalie. Natalie this is Queen Dandelion Jinn."

Natalie looked at her. "No, she's a princess," she said. "She's a kid, just a kid!"

"But, that's what everyone says since Queen Tara died," Queen Dandelion Jinn said, smiling at her. "You are only here on a visit, you will leave this small, confusing, weird world." She decided to look at M.K. "Do you know how you got here?"

"No," M.K. said, but Natalie stepped back. "Natalie? Do you know how we got here?"

Natalie breathed in. "We were in the woods when you just decided to-"

"Got _HERE_, Natalie. Here," M.K. repeated.

Natalie looked at her friend. "It was a flower that was colorful that when you touched it a certain way, you shrunk. I would have never gotten here if I didn't lose my balance when Rosemary almost plucked it!" She breathed again.

The dandelion girl gasped. "Pluck it? How dare she? It was just sitting there, wasn't it?" she asked.

"It was pretty," Natalie said lamely, trying to stand up for her friend. "It was, like, orange, red, and a little green."

The Queen, no older than fifteen, sighed. "I was afraid of that. I'm sorry, but that same flower has brought nothing but pain here since it showed up. No one knows where it came from, but that it showed up like a weed."

M.K. sighed. "Okay, how does that explain the disappearance of Rosemary?" she asked, looking at her other friend.

Natalie sighed. "She always was an adventurous spirit. She could have left at any time while we were walking," she answered. "This is my fault, isn't it? This never would have happened if I hadn't brought her here."

"If she were meant to be here, she would be lost in any way," the young queen answered.

Natalie looked at her. "Right, that's what Ronin said."

"He's a smart Leafman," Queen Dandelion Jinn said, smiling reassuringly. "Don't worry, if you were meant to see her again, then you will."

"Thanks," Natalie said, feeling a little better. "So, what's for breakfast?"

The queen smiled. "You will love it, it's a strawberry salad with lettuce and orange juices." She patted a leaf that looked like it was wilting and it sprang back to life.

"Sounds good, I'm starving just thinking about it," M.K. said, smiling. She put an arm around Natalie. "Let's go!"

The three girls started walking to the big dining room.

When they got there, they saw a bunch of Leafmen sitting around the table, talking and eating. Natalie saw three empty seats, not one of them near the other. She sat in the one closest to the door, M.K. sat in the one next to Nod, and the Queen sat on the one in the top of the table with her mother on her right.

"Welcome, friends," the Queen said, standing in front of the table. "We have some visitors, let's make them feel at home!"

There were cheers from all around the table, so Natalie thought they were celebrating their queen acknowledging the new faces. She had no idea they were happy about the new faces. She looked at the people around her and saw Ronin sitting across and down two from her, talking and sharing stories.

"Don't worry," one of the Leafmen said.

Natalie looked at him, startled. He had red-orange hair and dark brown eyes. "What do you mean?" she asked him. She then noticed he had a shadow of a beard that's color matched his hair.

"About Ronin," he answered. "I saw you looking at him."

Natalie blushed. "Really? I really wasn't paying attention," she said, looking at the food getting passed to her. It was amazing. The beautiful lettuce leaves a perfect color of green. The strawberries looking perfectly ripe, and the orange slice on the side to drizzle on your salad. "Yum," she said, picking up her fork. She put the orange juice on it so it wasn't so dry. She put some in her mouth and can openly say that she never tasted anything so perfect in all the years she had been alive. She wished it would never end.

As all of them ate, talked, laughed, and joked, M.K. was sitting there, laughing with Nod and eating her salad, even though she didn't notice how it tasted. She was just happy to be back, frightened for Rosemary, though she could never tell Natalie, and concerned for Natalie, being in between two Leafmen she didn't know. One of them did talk to break the silence, but she couldn't hear what he was talking about. She was happy to see Natalie smile with him.

"Okay, so I was sitting on my tree house," Natalie continued her story, "which is like a house in a tree."

John, the Leafman, smirked. "Like the name," he said.

"Right, so I was sitting there and all of a sudden the roof started falling on top of me. I looked up to see it being caught just in time by a hand. The hand goes back in and this figure pops up, and guess who it was sitting there."

"Who," John asked, taking another bite of his strawberry.

"Rosemary, coming from the roof and scaring the crap out of me and laughing because of it. I was still trying to calm down when M.K. came up and looking at me, then Rosemary, then walking like everything was okay, I'm like, 'Ugh! I'm dying here!'" Everyone there that heard started laughing. "Then, Rosemary was jumping down and stuck a perfect landing on the floor. I'm still trying to understand what the heck just happened. Rosemary started talking to M.K. about something, I don't remember. All that really got me was that M.K. acted like everything was okay! So I just start walking down the ladder to get something from my bag and turned around to see Rosemary's dad standing there." They started laughing again. "So I'm all nice, 'Hi, how was your day?' and he decided that he wanted to pick me up in his arms and give me a hug. Granted, I love hugs, but I was not expecting that. So he's hugging me, I'm hyperventilating, and M.K. comes in and tramples him, making me fall." She took a bite of her salad, swallowed, then continued. "Rosemary jumps on top of him, and now, I'm stuck between a ground and a really big man. Remember, I was 10, M.K. was about 5, and Rosemary was 6. M.K. started just trying to jump on me, and basically we had this whole fight on top of Bomba and Ozzy had to stop it before I turned into a pancake." They all started laughing and Natalie took another drink from her strawberry juice.

"You kids had lots of trouble as kids, huh?" Another Leafman said, wiping tears from his eyes.

Natalie looked sad. "Not nearly as many as Rosemary would have," she said. "She-she had a pretty messed up life, too."

The Leafmen laughed and shared more stories, making even the untrusting Natalie laugh, which surprised M.K., since she wasn't used to her friend being so open in public. Smiling, she turned to Nod and started laughing at a joke she missed.

Rosemary wasn't having such a good time. She woke up and walked over to Mandrake's throne, getting ready for something to eat. She hadn't eaten since Ihop, almost a day ago. She had to walk for a while, dodging Boggans left and right. She stopped at the foot of his throne and looked at his refreshing of the rot on his stick.

"Yes?" he snarled, not bothering to look at who he was talking to. "What is it?"

Rosemary cleared her throat. "Yeah, um, Mandrake?" she asked. He turned to face her face-to-face, feeling stupid for snarling with the Stomper around. "Is there something to eat around? 'Cause I'm , like, starving."

Mandrake thought a moment. "Um, no, I don't think we do," he said, looking at her. "I'm afraid that you will have to take one of the Boggans and find something. No one else here eats, though that would have been something to think about," he added, seemingly more to himself then Rosemary. He looked down, then back at her. "So, you still up with it, Rose?" he asked, holding out his hand again.

"Yeah, about that," she said, thinking he was referring to the memory sharing thing, "I was thinking that and thought that, you know, since we just met, we should start with the minor things and not, you know, get into the details about anything, right?"

Mandrake looked at her blankly, then remembered their conversation last night, started chuckling to himself. "Oh, you think I mean that?" he asked, still laughing. Rosemary nodded and looked at him. "No, no, I meant are you still on this team, not that. That's something to discuss later on."

"Oh," Rosemary said, blushing slightly. "Yeah, of course, I never changed my mind about that for a second." It was a lie, she did have her doubts about how he would treat her compared to how her friends choices and help had let her stop suicide notes from leaving her fingers. How they always seemed to stop her from the knife entering her skin no matter what. All of those thoughts collided with what the Leafmen had done to Mandrake, the poor soul. "So, I should just go?"

"Oh, no," he said putting a hand on her shoulder and looking straight into her eyes. "I never said that. I said, bring someone with you." He looked above her at a mosquito passing by. "You. Ja-Jo-Jestro, lead Rose to the forest to look for something for her to eat, please."

"Sure thing, Lord Mandrake," he snarl-spoke. "You won't be sorry."

Rosemary saw Mandrake just look at him. "You won't be sorry," she repeated for Mandrake.

Mandrake turned Rosemary over to the bug. "No, I won't." He turned and finished with his stick.

They walked away and left the hole. Walking was kind of quiet until Rosemary couldn't stand not talking anymore. "So, um, Jetsam?"

"Jestro, I'm not a farina," he said.

"What?"

"Like you, a farina from our muscle."

Rosemary rolled her eyes. "Yeah, so, Jestro, why does Mandrake want me so badly?" She saw him stiffen a bit, so decided this wasn't the right way to put it. "I mean-"

"I know what you mean," he said, looking around him. He decided it was safe and kept walking. "Mandrake will use anything that he can to get his way, including you."

Rosemary felt a chill, like she was being watched by someone other than Jestro. "Um, Jestro… I don't think we're alone."

"You're right, I've got your back," he said, disappearing.

She turned and saw two people coming toward her. She stood, readying herself for a fight, but then saw who it was. M.K. and Natalie.

"Guys?" she asked, looking at them. "What are you doing here?"

Natalie smiled, surprisingly. "Rosemary!" she squeeled, hugging her. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe it! It's really you! Hi!"

"Yeah, I'm here, where were you?" Rosemary asked, hugging her anti-social friend awkwardly.

"With the Leafmen! Oh, Rose, they're so nice," Natalie said, releasing her friend from her grasp.

Rosemary nearly smacked her. "I told you, NEVER CALL ME 'ROSE'!" she screamed, hearing her back-up run off. _Great, just what I need, Mandrake finding out I can't stand that name,_ she thought, rolling her eyes. "Leafmen, huh? Why not stay with me? It's fun, fending for yourself, loads of laughs with yourself."

M.K. looked at her friend. "Why don't you come with us?" she asked.

"That's a great idea!" Natalie said, laughing. "We could all sleep together!"

"Oh, no thanks, I gotta get breakfast. Long day ahead, looking for something," Rosemary said.

"Of course," M.K. said. "Plus, Mandrake might be mad if he found out his favorite Stomper went to the other side."

"You don't know the half of it, he almost killed me until he found out I wasn't one of your precious Leafmen," Rosemary said, wiping sweat from her brow.

M.K. and Natalie looked at her, letting her know she made a brutal mistake. "Wha-how could you?" Natalie asked.

Rosemary looked at her with fire in her eyes. "Well, at least our side isn't a lying, rotten place like your boring forest!" Rosemary screamed at them, not knowing what to do next. Twitter never taught them what to do in these situations. "You really think I would join you anyway? All pampered? I'm doing just fine on my own."

"No," a male voice said, stepping from behind a leaf. "You only think you are."

Natalie blushed. "How long were you there, Ronin?" she asked.

"The whole time. I never let anyone alone walking just in case a Boggan attack. Now I know there's an even bigger threat we need to fight against."

Rosemary backed away slowly. "No, you're not messing with my mind to," she said, pointing accusingly. "I have my rights! Now, get back before I get really angry."

A bird swooped by, but no one noticed. "Now, now, let me explain-" Ronin tried.

"No!" she shrieked, turning to run. She then noticed a black feather at her feet and looked up.

A crow was swirling around them, avoiding many arrow shots. "Mandrake," M.K. hushed, looking at Ronin, loading his arrow.

Rosemary noticed it and kicked the arrow out of his grasp. He looked surprised at her, but decided to ignore the fact and finished trying to get another one. Boggans started to run toward him, using their arrows to shoot at them. M.K. grabbed Natalie and started running.

"Moonhaven," Ronin commanded, earning a slight nod from the two girls.

Rosemary was looking up at the tree that was infested with the little bugs. A mosquito, Rosemary couldn't tell if it was Jestro or not, grabbed her arm and dragged her across the field, up the tree, and to the highest branch.

Mandrake was there, shooting another Leafman dead. "Okay, I get that you guys used to be friends and all," he said once she was up there. "But did you seriously have to get sidetracked?"

"I would have been back sooner, and gotten something to eat, if it wasn't for Ronin, Natalie, and M.K. stopping my hunt," Rosemary said, looking at the battlefield below. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Getting your butt back to the cave, we'll talk about this later," he said, shooting another arrow. "We have some bat meat for you. Cooked."

"Yes, sir," she said, turning. "Thank you."

Mandrake fired the last arrow on his back. "Oh, and one other thing," he said, turning. Rosemary stopped and sighed, getting ready for the conversation she'd been dreading. "We'll be talking about your name tonight, Rose."

"Okay, thank you," she said, half-heartedly. She started walking again.

Mandrake called his crow over. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, stopping her yet again.

"Going to the cave," she answered.

Mandrake climbed the bird. "Not that way you're not," he almost laughed.

Rosemary turned to question him, then saw the bird. "Oh," she said, seeing his outstretched hand. "Okay." She smiled and took his hand. He helped her sit on it and she held on to the feathers like they were the reigns.

"Uh, I wouldn't do that," Mandrake said when he saw what she was doing. "If that's your only sense of balance, you'll fall halfway."

She let go of the feathers. "Right, sorry," she said, sitting there, slightly wanting to hold on to him, mostly still not trusting him enough. "Let's go."

He shook his head slightly, smirking. He had the crow start off and bellowed a retreat, to which they knew they already had their package. They flew home, suffering some deaths, but mostly just glad they weren't about to have the same punishment Jestro was about to have.

Ronin walked back to Moonhaven, readying himself for anything. When he got there, he saw the girls out, looking for him.

"Ronin," Natalie breathed, nudging M.K. "Look, Ronin's back, we'll be fine."

He looked at M.K. "She's not coming back," he directed to both of them. "But the fact she's been with him for so long and he hasn't killed her means he probably has no intention of killing her."

"Or he's just waiting until he's done with her," Natalie said. The two looked at her, and she smiled. "NCIS."

"Let's just hope it's the former, okay," M.K. said. "I really don't want dad to ask why there's only one other with me."

Ronin looked at them. "Let's get back to Nim's. I'm sure we'll find the answer there."

"Yes, sir," the girls said in unison.


	4. Chapter 4

Mandrake and Rosemary landed in the hole, then the crow went to find its usual perch. They watched as the other Boggans landed and came in. They watched them all come in, and before that time, Rosemary had no idea that there were so many Boggans working with her. She started smiling slightly. One mosquito walked with a lot less dignity than the other Boggans. She thought it was Jestro just because he was the one who ran.

"Mandrake," she said when all of them were back. He nodded. "Um, I'm sorry about, you know, not keeping my mouth shut. I just, I'm not used to all of this yet and-"

"It's okay," he said, cutting her off. "It's not your fault. Your friend is too smart for our own good. You're fine. Jestro on the other hand…" He tuned out, thinking. Then he seemed to remember that she was still there. "Food's over there, Rose. By the way, I'd like the explanation for why you flipped out on your friend for saying your name."

"I'll tell it to you later," she said, going over to the food.

It smelled like heaven to the half-starved girl. She saw it just off of a spit and picked up the stick. Her first bite told her that it was perfectly cooked through. She ate all of it and finally felt full. She never felt this full, but she felt that she needed to save all the energy she could get. Content, she walked to her room to lay and digest. Today was a long day, and it wasn't even over yet.

Ronin and the girls walked in and decided to share the news before it was too late. Natalie held on to Ronin's arm, feeling happy to be there, safe and sound.

"By the way, whose idea was it to go out in the forest?" Ronin asked them.

M.K. shrugged. "Mine," she said. "I thought that it was okay as long as we stuck together."

Ronin shook his head. "Right, you thought." He sighed. "And Natalie followed because you were here before?"

"Yeah," she said, feeling retarded. "It seemed fun before, then Rosemary was there and it all seemed good, then M.K. said Mandrake and-"

"I was there, you know," Ronin said, patting her head.

They found the Queen with her mother, learning how to control her power from Nim. "You just aim right there at that tree and make it grow," he said, looking over a scroll. She put her fingers to her temple and concentrated. "Wow, wow, not that much energy," Nim warned, putting her arms down, "you'll wear yourself out like that. How long have you been doing that?" He looked at her mom. "Take notes, have her stop that, or nap time three times a day."

Ronin walked up to the glowworm, shaking off Natalie. "Nim, we need to talk," he said, pointing to them.

"Oh, that is bad," Nim said, looking at them. "Look, Ronin, I would love to help you, but I've got to train the new queen."

Ronin seemed to just notice she was there. "You majesty," he said, bowing slightly, then standing straight again, not really paying attention to the mom. "There's more," he said to Nim, shocking the poor six-armed bug. "One of their friends has gone rot."

"No, that's not possible," the queen's mom said, shaking her head. "It's just not. Is she still alive?"

Ronin nodded. "Natalie and M.K. spoke to her in the forest. She's still alive, but she's in a dilution that we're the bad ones."

"She was also paler then last time," Natalie said. "Her lips were a little darker. The pale skin would be from lack of sun, but I'm not sure about the dark lips."

M.K. thought. "Well, since we're used to her having peach skin, her lips could just look different to us because of her skin color being lighter."

"Whatever it is, we need to know why there here in the first place," Ronin said.

Nim thought. "Having a stomper on Mandrake's team could be a curse," he pointed out, like he just thought of it. "Okay, I'm sure that there's something in the scrolls that says something about it." They started going to the center of the tree before the Queen pulled on Nim's shirt.

"What about me?" she asked once she had his attention.

Nim pointed her to the tree. "You keep practicing, not too much stress, remember?"

"Okay," she said, looking at the tree. "I can do it."

Nim smiled. "That's a bright girl," he said, looking at her mom. He signaled that she should keep an eye on her daughter, then handed her the scroll. He turned back to the group. "Let's go," he said, walking again.

Rosemary woke up to Mandrake sitting over her. She jumped back a little, not sure what he was doing there. She sat up and could tell that by her hunger that it was noon. She looked over to the unexpected guest, then at his hand. There was another bat in it. She took it and smiled gratefully, finally being able to taste it.

"How'd you sleep?"he asked, looking at her.

Rosemary smirked. "Better, thanks," she said, looking at him back. "How're you?"

"Good, I guess," he said, watching her eat eagerly.

She finished it and stood to throw it out until she saw how pale her skin had gotten. "Cheese," she said, looking at herself. "Who knew science would ever effect me?" She chuckled.

Mandrake stood and led her out of her room. She looked at all the Boggans and saw Jestro, beaten and bruised. She let out a tear for him. "How could you do that to him?" she asked Mandrake, looking at the blue man.

"He's been a bad bug," Mandrake said. They stopped and looked up, the top of the hole. "Let's go." He called his crow.

They mounded on it and he let out a growl only the bird could hear. It shrieked and lifted off. Rosemary held on to Mandrake as it streaked through the air. He chuckled and held the reigns of it, making sure it didn't go anywhere it wasn't supposed to.

"Where are we going?" Rosemary asked.

He smirked. "You pick," he replied, not making any move to shrug her off.

Bomba looked at the note again. M.K. shouldn't have been out this long. The camera alarm sounded. He snapped over to it and slowed the monitor, looking at it the whole time.

"Hi, Bomba," Natalie said, nudging M.K.

"Yeah, hi, dad," she responded.

Bomba made it to the chair and plopped down. "What made-how did you get small again?"

Natalie's eyes shone. "It was a flower, it was really pretty," she said, excitedly. "How did you know all this was real?"

"A feeling," Bomba said, shrugging. "Then I kept getting facts, and I kept looking."

"He became obsessed," M.K. said, looking at him.

Bomba pulled up his glasses. "Do you need me again? Is it Mandrake?"

With that name, Natalie stiffened, and a tear rolled down her face. "Rosemary," Natalie whispered.

"Rosemary?" Bomba asked, then did a quick head count. "Where is she?"

M.K. looked at her father. "She went on Mandrake's team," she said fast. "We couldn't stop her in time to warn her."

"Is she okay?" Bomba asked. "She's not dead is she?"

M.K. shook her head. "No, but he's been feeding her lies about the Leafmen so that she won't join our side."

"That's no good," Bomba said, looking at Natalie. "What's wrong, Natalie?"

She was just about to fall before M.K. caught her. "I'll be here if you need anything," Bomba said, turning off the monitor. He blew out a breath slowly. "They're safe, more or less," he said to himself.

Ozzy ran over to the monitor and ran around the chair in circles. He leaned over to pet his dog, and then walked over to the kitchen. He made himself a sandwich. He didn't eat breakfast, and it was almost lunch. He made it quick and sat down. Eating, he saw a picture from way back with M.K., her mother, and himself. The memory of abandonment from when she ran away, only to be shrunk, hit him again. A tear formed.

"It's different now, Ozzy," Bomba said, looking at his dog. "This time, everything's different."

Ozzy whined. He looked over to the door, hearing footsteps. The door knocked, and Bomba walked to get it.

"Hello, sir," a man said on the other side of the door. "Have you seen this girl?" He held up a picture of Rosemary. "We seem to be… missing her."

He looked at the man. He was black haired, of Mexican origin, and had a very deep accent. Bomba didn't remember him from anything Rosemary told him about. "No, she's not here right now, why?"

"We saw her through the woods after me and her… friend went looking for her. We miss her dearly." He smiled. "If you find her, tell her that Uncle Joshua is looking for her."

Bomba looked at him. "Okay, I will."

"Thank you," Joshua said, walking away.

Bomba closed the door. "As if," he said. "Rosemary doesn't have anyone Mexican in her family." He looked in at the empty house.

Natalie stood there frozen for a minute. "Natalie, Nat, Natalie," M.K. said frantically. "What? What is it? Do we need…?"

"Rosemary," Natalie said, in a voice that sounded like sweet syrup and fragile leafs, but also the strong growth of all the surrounding trees. "We have to warn Rosemary."

M.K. took her in her arms. "It'll be okay," she said, patting her head.

"Joshua…" Natalie's weird voice got lighter, like her own self. "Josh… What happened?" She looked up at M.K., seeing her fearful look. "What?"

M.K. looked around. "We-we need to see the Queen," she said. "Now."

"Oh, okay," she stuttered. "With-without Ronin or Nob or anyone?"

"Now," she repeated, dragging her friend behind her.

"Rosemary," Mandrake said, looking in the third tree. "In what way is this helpful to your past?"

Rosemary sighed from her trunk hiding spot. "It was what… It's just important, okay?" she snapped, slinking in her spot more. "Just find me, if you can."

Mandrake sighed. "Then why did I have to count before?"

"It's the rules, see?" she looked out a little, seeing his footsteps getting closer. "Just find me."

He looked in the hole and saw her sitting there. "Found you, now what?" Mandrake said, holding his hand out to help her up.

"Now, now you hide," she said, pointing at him, "and I seek." She pointed to herself.

Mandrake shook his head. "Back to the base, let's get this straight."

They flew back to the hole, jumped down, walked back to the room, and sat down. Rosemary was a little less comfortable since she didn't go in the forest with her bag. "Okay, so now what?" she asked.

"You tell me one thing that happened in your life that was crap, I tell one thing crap that happened in my life," Mandrake said, looking at her.

Rosemary laughed. "And how do I know you won't fall asleep while I tell my story?" she asked.

"You have my word. If I dose off, you can hurt me, if necessary."

"Okay. Let's start with… Daddy." Rosemary cleared her throat. "May I have a drink?" Mandrake gave her a glass of water and she drank. "Thank you," she said. She cleared her throat again. "So, okay. I was, like seven years old, so I was, like, really innocent. I wanted to just have a normal family, subtracting mom. So we, me and dad, we were playing hide-and-go-seek, like we were just. He found me and told me not to stay in any situation that might harm me." She looked away from Mandrake, and he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She breathed in shakily and continued. "Some guy, dad said his name was Joshua, came up and told me he was showing me what would happen if I didn't obey." She wouldn't meet Mandrake's eyes, and he knew why. "So, I was there to witness my father getting shot right in front of me. It-it was painful, knowing what happened, but not understanding what just happened. He pointed the gun to me and told me that if I told anyone what happened…" She didn't finish, and she didn't have to. Mandrake put his arm around her again.

"Go on," he said, as gently as he could.

She sat up a little. "I told him that I understood, and he said he was proud of my decision. He said it would get me far in life." She took another really long breath. "So, I never did, just in case he ever came back… In case he ever really… You know."

Mandrake nodded. "Yeah," he said, looking at her. "Yeah, I know."

"So, I lost any chance of a normal childhood," she said, looking at the floor. "I really didn't ever feel the same. I think that's what made me… I think… I don't know."

Mandrake looked at her and she looked back for the first time through the story. Tears where streaking down her face, and they hugged, letting the poor girl cry. "I lost my parents, too," he said after a while.

"When?" Rosemary inquired.

Mandrake put his arm around her. "Now, if I tell you that story, how do I know you will tell me how your mother died? No, I'm going to tell you another story. One that happened most recently, and was very precious to me, the death of my son, Dagda." He proceeded with the story, but gave his ending to it. "As I was falling, a lot of feelings were going through my head. When I reached him, he was already at Death's door. He told me that I should do what any respectable Boggan of my stature would do. Take vengeance. He then looked at me and said 'You should see the face of the Leafmen when you take over. It'll be hilarious.' That was the last I ever heard of him before he became rot in my hands." He looked at Rosemary. "You're lucky. You only had your parents killed. I had my parents, my wife, _and_ my son." He looked at the girl and stood up. "You must be exhausted, what with everything that happened already." He hugged her one more time.

She hugged back. "Thanks for not sleeping," she whispered in his ear.

"No problem," he said, looking at her hair, turning darker with the rot that she was exposed to. "Your stories will just get more interesting." _In more ways than one,_ he thought, knowing it dumb to mention in front of her.

"Thanks," she said, smiling.

"Uh-oh," Nim said, looking at the scroll.

Ronin looked at the glow worm. " 'Uh-oh'?" he asked. "What's 'uh-oh'?"

"Well, let's look at it this way, she might become the most powerful Stomper-Jinn known to any kind." Nim gave Ronin the scroll.

The general took it and read over it. "What? I thought we had this covered with M.K.," he said, looking at it from another angle, as if that would change anything. "Rosemary can't be the new… no."

"Well, her transformation has already started. Pale skin, black lips," Nim said, looking at the poor Leafman. "There was nothing you could do, Ronin. None of this is your fault."

Ronin gave the scroll back to Nim. "This can't be real," he said. "This-M.K. was supposed to be the only Stomper to come to this world, no one else. She-I-…" He looked at the glowworm. "Please tell me there's something we can do, Nim."

"Sorry, Ronin," Nim said. "She's already made up her mind."

Ronin looked at the scroll in his friend's hand. "So, the best we can do is just wait until she gets bigger?"

Nim shook his head sadly. "I wish it were that easy. It's foretold that she will have the ability of going between worlds at will." He put the scroll back in its designated place. "I'm sorry, Ronin. Life isn't like it was before M.K., know that."

"I know," Ronin said. "I also know what to do."

Nim looked at him. "Whoa, whoa," he said, shaking all of his hands. "Time out, Ronin. You can't just-"

"Why not?" Ronin asked. "An eye for an eye, right?"

Nim sighed. "You can't use his saying against him like that. Soon you'll be quoting his almost killing you phrase."

Ronin stopped in his tracks, then put his head down. "So you're saying there is literally nothing we can do?" He turned to face the worm.

"Now, we can't be inflicting unnecessary violence, there's enough of that now here."

M.K. sat in the room, looking up. "I can't believe Rosemary," Natalie fumed from the other side of the room. She paced back and forth. "She was supposed to stay with us, and now she's gone."

M.K. sighed. "You knew how she is, we both did. Inviting her here was a mistake on both of our parts." She sighed. "Now all we can do is wait until we get bigger, or she comes to us."

"You expect me to just sit here?" Natalie burst out.

M.K. sighed. "That's all we can do." She closed her eyes and pushed herself up. "You heard Ronin, it's not safe for us out there. That Boggan attack could have been plainly pointed at us, and they usually never miss their target."

"I know," Natalie said, sitting down. "It's just, you can't just sit here knowing that we can do nothing, right?"

M.K. sighed. "Sometimes that's the only thing you can do, really." She looked at her friend. "Now, let's go."

"What?" Natalie looked over at M.K. "Huh?"

M.K. laughed. "We gave Ronin and Nim some time alone, I'm sure they would like to tell us their findings."

Natalie smiled. "Okay," she said, starting to walk. "It is late, though."

"It's only-" M.K. looked up at the moon, counting the Stomper inches. "Ten at night."


	5. Chapter 5

That morning, Rosemary felt more refreshed. Like she was a kid again. She looked at her hair. It was pitch black. She sighed. It was the lighting, she bet on it. She stood up and walked over to Mandrake's throne. She passed some Boggans on the way over and waved at them, making small talk. She passes Jestro and stopped.

"Hey, Jestro," she said, making him jump. "You okay?"

He nodded. "Just a little broken wing, that's all," he said. "How're you today, Miss Mary?"

"No, my full first name is Rosemary. Not Rose Mary."

"Okay. Miss Rosemary."

She nodded and walked on, smiling a little. "Mandrake," she said when she reached his throne. "How have you been today?"

"Good," he said, looking at his little Stomper. "Food's over there." He pointed to a table on the side of the room.

She smiled. "I'm actually not that hungry," she said. "It felt like I just ate, really."

"That's interesting," he said, investigating her up and down. He knew there was something different about her. From the slightly plump figured, red haired, light blue eyed girl with peach complexion to a black haired, dark blue eyed girl, almost as thin as a stick but still with some fat, and ghost white skin. "So, what were you doing last night?"

Rosemary chuckled a little. "Uh, sleeping," she said, like it was obvious. "What were you doing?"

"Same," he said, smiling. "You want to see something?"

She nodded. "Why not?"

They looked to their side and saw a broken floor piece. "You know how to control rot?"

"You can do that?" she asked, now interested.

He nodded. "Watch." He led her out of the hole once more and stopped her just outside of the 'boundaries' the Leafmen gave the Boggans, that they always cross. He put the staff on one of the plants, a nice green stem with a red top, scooping up. It immediately started withering and dying. "That is what we do here," he said, putting his staff toward him again.

"Can I do that?" Rosemary asked, looking at the staff longingly.

Mandrake handed her the staff. She felt something happen in her, like a new power she never knew before. As she felt it, a burst of rot erupted from her and the staff, having her drop it, but it did not break. Another burst went through her, and all around them what was left of alive plants died quickly, their lives ending suddenly. She lifted off the ground a Stomper inch with each burst. When it finished, and she no longer had that feeling, and she dropped to the ground, falling in Mandrake's arms. Her eyes were closed, like she was sleeping.

Mandrake chuckled. "It choose you," he whispered, hoping she couldn't hear him, but saying it anyway. "We will make a great team." He delicately kissed her forehead, smirking.

"What about Natalie?" Ronin asked, looking at Nim.

He sighed. "She had something happen to her. It's something that happens to all close friends. One is in trouble, the other has a weird feeling then gets her warning voice to warn everyone that can hear. She just happened to have the voice of the forest," he said, reading another scroll. "This Joshua, he must be the danger that she wanted to warn people about."

Ronin put a hand to his head. "So, what? Will it happen again?"

"Unclear, we don't have many Stomper memories here." Nim looked at him, smiling. "They're okay, it's natural instinct."

"What's natural instinct?" M.K. asked, looking at the boys.

Ronin looked at them. "I thought I told you to stay in the room."

"We did, then we got bored," Natalie said, looking at her shoe. "So, what about me in the forest? What happened to me?"

Nim rolled up the scroll. "It's natural instinct. You wanted to protect your friend, thus another of your personalities woke up for a minute to warn of the possible dangers."

M.K. looked at her friend. "So, Joshua's a threat to Rosemary?" she guessed. "But, I don't remember her ever talking about a Joshua."

"She does," he said, reading yet another scroll at the more back. "She even dreamed about him." When he had confused looks, he put up the scroll. "All the Jinn's memories are put here, not just Leafmen. Anyway, let's see here. Oh, dear," he said, getting more into the story. "Now, that's not good."

"What?" M.K. almost shrieked. "Who is he?"

Nim looked at them. "You know what?" he asked. "If she didn't tell you, then she didn't want you to know." He smiled and looked at the shrunken Stompers. "You should all go out and look for her." He looked at Ronin with a stern look on his face. "Only look, right?"

"Yeah." Ronin turned and walked out, motioning for the girls to follow.

They did, but were still worried about Rosemary. What would become of their anger crazed friend? Natalie looked at Ronin, who walked fast, his mission already in mind.

He had to get Rosemary. No matter what.

Rosemary woke up with a headache. She put her fingers to her head and tried to massage it away. Mandrake entered the room, after hearing her groan, and gave her some purple stuff that smelled like a bad grape. She took it anyway and began to feel a whole lot better, though it tasted like rotten grapes. She then saw her pointer and middle, and ring and pinky fingers try to mold with each other on her left hand.

"What's happening?" she asked, looking at the overgrown, and highly over intelligent, Boggan. "What did you do?"

Mandrake smirked. "Nothing," he said, as if the thought that he did anything amused him. "I just helped you find yourself." He smiled and took the empty cup from her.

Rosemary chuckled. "Right," she said, dragging out the "I". "And that stuff you gave me?"

Mandrake put it on the table next to the bed. "Medicine. Levels out your rot intake," he said simply. "All emotions are based off of how much rot is in your body at a time, you know. Such as too much makes one angry, or short tempered. Too little makes one upset, crying, and, in some cases, no emotion at all. But that's rare." He lifted himself. "Just enough and you're your normal self. All emotions are based off of how much rot is in your system. Your Stomper rings that change color, what are they called?"

"Mood rings," she said, knowing that she shouldn't have told him about her peoples' technology, but not caring anymore. "They're called mood rings."

"Right, they take the amount of rot in a person and tell you how much in color, you just found what the colors mean."

"But, black isn't anger or short tempered," Rosemary said, feeling smart. "It's means your emotion is mysterious, not angry. Angry is red."

Mandrake looked at her like she was an alien. "Um, what made you think that?" he asked, looking in her eyes.

Rosemary gulped. "It's just what everyone told me," she said, looking away. "I don't know, I didn't make it."

Mandrake held out his arm. "So, you remember anything from earlier?" he asked, smiling.

"I remember not being hungry," she said, politely taking his arm. "Then you sent me to see what you could do, then I held your staff. It was wonderful, then it all left, and I blanked out. Why? Was there anything I missed?"

Mandrake smirked. "No, of course not. I just wanted to know what you felt."

"No, I won't allow it," the Queen said, looking at Ronin. "I will not have my general do something so risky, let alone dangerous."

Ronin looked at her. He never wanted to tell the young girl where he was going, but he had to. "We have to find Rosemary, she could be the destruction of the forest," he said, looking down.

"You can stand now," she told the kneeling man. He stood up. "What is done is done. You can't get her to change her mind, you told me this yourself. She doesn't wish to come, and we cannot change a woman's mind after it is made."

Ronin looked at the young Queen. So young, yet so wise. "Your highness," he said, "what if I just try reasoning with her? Let her see things our way?"

Queen Jinn almost lost it, but stayed as calm as she could muster. "I understand you want to make sure that Mandrake does not get the upper hand. But you must put your own knowledge of what could happen if you do this."

"I've done it before and-"

"Barely survived the overflow of Boggans. I'm sorry, Ronin, it's out of the question. You'll need an army with you, and I'm not permitting it just in case Mandrake tries anything here." The Dandelion girl looked at the Leafman. "Ronin, if I have any other reason to have you go over there, I will permit you and an army to go. If not, my answer still stands."

Ronin looked around. "So, we just need a reason?" he asked. "Have you seen what the scrolls foretell, your highness?"

"I have," she said, not knowing where this was going.

Ronin went on. "It says a Stomper that sides with the Boggans will lead the Jinn world to the worst downfall ever seen before, or since. He or she will travel between worlds and be the most powerful person in the world."

"And that is why we didn't tell Mandrake about this. We were hoping he would be dead before that happened."

"Without an heir? Your majesty, with all due respect, really?"

Queen Dandelion Jinn looked at the Leafman. "So, she'll be the strongest ever seen, huh?"

Ronin sighed. "That's what's foretold," he said, soothingly. "We can't change prophesies."

"I know. We still cannot just go and take the girl, it's against our ways."

Ronin sighed. "I know." He bowed again. "Thank you for your time, you majesty."

"No problem, someone needed to talk you out of it."

Ronin walked away, feeling like he just got hit with a tree. He was sure that once the Queen saw things his way… No, he had to prove it to her. Stubborn, he was pretty sure that was one trait that she inherited from Tara. He smiled at himself, remembering the time they were kids, when she was chosen, when he joined the army, Nod's dad. He frowned, remembering his friend's death, Tara's death, everything bad that happened to him, to his people, to everything and everyone.

"Are you okay?" asked a voice from behind him. He flipped around to see Natalie standing there, looking concerned. "You're crying."

He wiped his cheek and found tears there. "Oh, well, I guess I am," he said, taking the rest of it. "What are you doing here?"

Natalie walked forward toward him. "I wanted to make sure you were okay," she said. "It's time for lunch. I was walking and saw you. What happened?"

"Oh, nothing," he said, waving it away. "Let's get some lunch."

"Of course," she said.

Ronin held out his arm, let Natalie take it, and had them walk inside like that. They heard an echo, like someone was talking to themselves. Ronin regained his composure and smiled so that he didn't have to explain his memories.

"Ronin," M.K. said, standing to address him. He looked around and saw only her. "No one else is here."

"Where are they?" he asked, looking at the two girls.

M.K. sighed. "I don't know," she admitted. "Nod said he would be here and I don't know where he is." Her eyes started tearing up. "I have no clue where he could be."

Natalie looked up at Ronin. "Do you know, General?"

"I have a feeling," he said, "that news travels fast in a forest. And everyone reads the prophesies."

The girls looked at him confused. He shook off Natalie and stormed out of the room.

Mandrake looked at Rosemary, clearly enjoying herself talking in a dead-end conversation with one of the Boggans. Everyone knew that they couldn't speak, yet she kept trying.

"So, how is it here? Like, living here?" she asked, eagerly awaiting an answer. To the ears of the Rot King, she got a few shrieks and a growl back. "Really?" she asked, and Mandrake couldn't tell if she was playing with him or actually heard something. Then she walked over to him.

"Yes, Rose?" he asked, looking at her. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Rosemary looked at him. "I promise, I won't betray you," she said, tears in her eyes. Mandrake was confused and looked at the Boggan. "I heard what happened the last time you trusted one of my kind. I'm not him, I'm me." She wrapped Mandrake in a hug. "And I will never leave."

"I'm sure you won't," he said, still not understanding how she could have heard of James. He never told her that story.

Rosemary pulled away from the hug and sat down, Mandrake sitting next to her. "So, how did your parents really die?" she asked, raising an eyebrow toward him.

"How did your mother die?" he asked her putting a hand on her shoulder.

She laughed. "Touché," she said, getting ready to stand.

Suddenly a Boggan came and started shrieking about something. Rosemary's eyes grew wide and looked up. "No," she whispered. "Lead by- Why?" She looked at the Boggan. "What?"

"Are you kidding me?" Mandrake asked. "Someone tell me what's going on."

"Leafmen attack," Rosemary said. "Lead by someone, but it's not the general. Looking for me. Have to protect the-" she stopped and looked at Mandrake. "The… Queen? What's that about?"

"Nothing," he said, pushing her gently out of the way. "You get to your room."

Rosemary ran, not objecting, but she was wondering. She stopped in the dark hallway and stayed there, wanting to see how it all played out.

The birds were flying, and Nod was free, alongside other Leafmen going against General Ronin, the Queen, and Nim's orders to stay put until further advance is allowed. He looked at Maple, flying next to him. He knew what Rosemary looked like, basically. He was told. Nod looked in front of him at a tree flying straight for him. He ducked, and barely grazed it with his helmet.

From behind him, he could hear the sounds of birds. Below him were the sound of Boggan screams. And above him were the sounds of Leafmen letting out their war cry. He let out his, and never felt so free.

Suddenly from behind, he heard a new voice. M.K.'s, Ronin's, and Natalie's. He stopped, allowing the others to pass him until he saw them on their bird. Didn't surprise Nod that M.K. wanted to ride, what surprised him was that Natalie was on a bird. Well, subtract the slugs, he would be more brave. Look at him now.

"Nod!" M.K. yelled. "You idiot! Get out of here, they'll kill you!"

Nod shook his head. "We have to save your friend before they kill her!" he yelled back.

"Who's idea was this?" Ronin asked, and Nod pointed to the front of the group.

An arrow almost cut Nod's shoulder and he shot back at them, killing the Boggan on contact. He shot a few more before returning to his conversation.

"M.K., I'm sorry I skipped, it was kind of last minute," he yelled, looking right at her.

M.K. shook her head. "If you win," she said. "That's all the forgiveness you're getting from me." She looked ahead and pointed. He saw he was headed for another tree, but he didn't have enough time to jump or duck, and got knocked off the bird. No one had enough time to save him.

Rosemary snuck out of the house and walked over to where the fighting was being held. Being of no experience with a bow and arrow, she just decided to watch. She kept reminding herself how furious Mandrake would be if he found out she was on the battle field, but stopped caring. She saw a figure falling for its doom and thought it was a Boggan. She ran out to catch it just as it fell close enough to see the shape of it fall on the ground. One Boggan ran up to kill it, and Rosemary, hating the sight of killing ever since after she killed her own mother, decided to at least see who it was that was going to die. She saw the figure that she saw on M.K.'s monitor.

"Should I?" she wondered aloud. Nod saw her and the Boggan coming to finish him off. He shot the Boggan and jumped up, grabbed Rosemary, and called his bird. It came immediately.

Mandrake stood and saw him with her, then called his own crow. He jumped on it and roared out into battle, trying to save her. He nocked his arrow and shot it to the figure, barely missing. The boy turned and returned the fire. He kept the bird steady and flew out of the battle scene, knowing something.

There in front of them were M.K., Natalie, and a man she remembered from the forest.

"I've got her," he said. "Let's go home."

M.K. looked at him and jumped on his bird, Natalie watching with appreciation before they saw he was being chased. "Is that..?" Natalie asked.

"Mandrake," the man said coolly. "Let's get out of here."

"On the triple," the three girls said simultaneously. Ronin shot some arrows at the King of the Boggans, missing almost every shot.

"Stop it!" Rosemary screamed, kicking Nod, then seeing M.K. "Hi, M.K.," she said sweetly. "Could you just let me off at the next tree branch?"

"No," M.K. said. "We're helping you, Rose."

Rosemary lost it. "I told you never to call me that!" she exploded, getting ready to jump from the bird. "And I don't need some idiots thinking they know what's best for me. I control me, understand?" She almost jumped before the man positioned himself underneath the bird. "Ugh!" she sighed, then turned just to be knocked out.

"Rosemary!" Mandrake screamed, shooting another arrow. Then he shrieked.

The bird brains kept avoiding his shot, which he had mixed feelings about. If he did shoot the kid, the bird would be out of control and Rosemary would be in more trouble than should be. If he didn't, she would be gone. Probably forever.

The rest of the bird elite followed them, and Mandrake stopped. He couldn't believe it. He lost her. He looked through the birds and, not seeing Rosemary anywhere. He started panting frantically. When the birds were all gone out of the place, he turned to land, angry at himself for not finding her and killing the little brats that dared to take her away.

Mandrake landed in the hole and walked into the hall, following her footsteps. He followed them until he saw where they stopped. In the middle of the hall. He sighed, not really surprised. How else could she have found him without braking some demands of her friends. He sighed and looked at the Boggans that followed him. He didn't take in account the deaths of the battle, and that meant something else was on his mind. He looked at one of his trusted ones.

"We'll get her back," he said, to himself more than the Boggans. "A Boggan never loses."

They all looked at him and thought he had an idea about what was supposed to happen. Truth is, he had no clue.

"Do you have any idea how many lives we lost for that stupid stunt?" Ronin roared at Nod, making him back up. "We could have lost everyone!"

The leader of their little rebellion stepped forward. "But we won, we killed a lot of Boggans, and we got what we came for."

M.K. and Natalie watched on a seat made from twigs and leafs for comfort. "I couldn't care less about Rosemary," he said. "You could have sped up her death sentence!" He glared at them all. "Who even brought up the idea to go against everyone?"

No one spoke up. "Ronin," Natalie said, making him swirl around to face her. "Do you mind if we go talk with Rosemary when she gets up?"

"Have at it," he said, turning back to the group. "Just make sure she doesn't get released. Or leaves." He looked at the group sternly and continued scorning them, letting M.K. and Natalie leave.

They got to the room and saw Rosemary waking up. She saw the other girls and glared. "What am I doing here?" she asked, angry.

Natalie walked in. "Rosemary, you're here to keep yourself alive," she explained.

Rosemary shook her head. "No, you don't understand," she said. "You couldn't understand. He's the nice one. He's making sure I eat and drink. M.K., I've never felt so content without him as I do with him. You can understand, right?"

M.K. walked in. "You fell in love with the creep?" she asked, outraged.

"Yeah, he's super nice, but it's not just that." Rosemary took a breath and continued. "We were talking to each other before your friends came and tried killing all of us and I think he was trying to flirt with me. Then John'zz told us that you were coming and trying to kidnap me, he called me the Queen. M.K., Natalie, you have to believe me. He tried to cover it up but I think…" She zoned out.

Natalie cleared her throat. "Or it could just be that they wanted to mess with your mind so that you work with them," she said, putting an arm around her confused friend. "You always told me that is something seems too good to be true, it usually isn't."

M.K. looked at her two friends. "Rosemary," she said. "Why didn't he kill you when you first came, again?"

"I already told you, he was about to until he found out that I wasn't a Leafman," Rosemary said. "Now, let me leave before Mandrake-"

"Mandrake's not coming," Natalie said automatically. "He only cares for himself. He didn't need you then, he doesn't need you now. You can't even shoot an arrow, you're of no use to him."

"Natalie?" M.K. asked, looking at her. She looked at M.K. and left, pushing her out of the way. "Natalie, wait," she called, leaving and closing the door behind her.

Natalie walked forward, fast, trying to escape the inevitable question. "Just leave me alone," she called behind her.

"No," M.K. said, grabbing her sleeve. "Now, what's the matter with you? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said, tearing herself from M.K.'s grasp. "Just go back to Rosemary or your boyfriend."

M.K. looked at her. "Is this because Ronin doesn't seem to like you?" she asked her, watching her tear up. "Natalie, he's crazy about you. Has been since the first time he saw you. Why else did he jump at the idea of a nice, long walk with you?"

Natalie looked at her. "But, he tried to lose me," she said.

"He tried to lose both of us. He was trying to make sure we stayed put so we wouldn't get hurt, especially you. He made sure you had the seat closest to him when he found out that you weren't leaving him to do it alone. He had you meet everyone so you weren't out of the Leafmen Loop. Every time he sees you he relaxes a little. He loves you, Natalie. He doesn't say it because he wants to keep up the tough man act in front of you."

"Really?" Natalie asked, hopes rising.

"Of course," she said. "Now, how about we make sure the door is locked."

They walked back to find out that someone was already guarding it. "She almost left," he said. Natalie recognized him as the person who lead their little rebellion. "Ronin said I had to keep an eye on her. My punishment."

The girls nodded and walked over to their room.


	6. Chapter 6

Mandrake walked over to the throne and tended to his staff after he counted the dead and buried them. He tended to his staff and closed his eyes. He couldn't stand the fact she was gone. He opened his eyes, watching his subconscious turn the staff since he'd done it so many times. He put it up and stood it beside him. How could he just let them up and take her? He did try, he had to remind himself. A Boggan came up.

He turned. "Steveth?" he asked. The Boggan nodded in return. "What?" His question was rough. They all had a hard time owning up to the fact she was gone. He held out a piece of rot. It was the missing piece of his son. "Thank you," he said, almost a whisper. The Boggan nodded and left.

Mandrake started walking to his family burial grounds. He walked a few more feet, touching the gravestones of his ancestors, all until his son's. He knelt in front of it, then placed the piece down. A tear fell down his face, and he wiped it off. He kissed the stone then walked away. He didn't have time today, but in two week's time. The day he died.

Mandrake walked into his throne room and smiled. He finally had someone on the inside, looking on the bright side of it. She could collect information then report back to him once he gets her back. On the dark side, she could change her mind and go to their side, leaving him once again stuck with knowing the false hope that she was what the prophesies say she was.

He was ready to find her, no matter the cost.

"Let me out!" Rosemary screamed at whoever was behind the door. She knew there was someone, because they always kick the door. "Please, let me out!"

The door was kicked again. "Quiet in there," a male voice shouted in. "I've had enough of your talking."

"Let me out," Rosemary said back. "You won't have to listen to me if you do."

"Tempting, but I promised everyone I would keep you here." She could hear his smug voice.

"You won't be so cocky when Mandrake comes and kills you to get to me. You just watch, he'll come."

She heard his laughing from behind the door. "Why? Because you believe in him? Because he cares? Sorry, kid. Mandrake only cares for himself, and since you're out of his hair, he won't be needing you anymore."

"He does care!" Rosemary shouted, kicking the door hard. "You'll see, you'll all see! He's coming for me! He is! He'll stop anyone who'll try to get in his way!" She kicked it again, harder, almost injuring her own foot. "You want to take that chance? Let me go back to him and I'll make sure he doesn't."

"Again, tempting," the taunting voice from behind the door purred. "But, I still have my duties to fulfill, which includes keeping you here." He chuckled loud enough for her to hear. "Sorry, Rose, you're not going anywhere."

Rosemary punched the wall, hard. "Do not call me Rose! Only Mandrake has permission to call me Rose! No one else! Got me?"

"Sure thing, Rose," he said, tauntingly.

She punched the wall a few times until her knuckles started to bleed. "When I get out of here, you're dead! You hear me? Dead! I'll do it myself! You won't live long enough to see your next birthday! Dead!"

"Sure thing, Rose."

"M.K., I feel icky," Natalie said, laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

M.K. was looking out the window. "Some fresh air will do you good," she informed her. "But since we're in a tree, I don't think that's going to help, is it?"

Natalie rolled on her side and glared at her friend. "Are you trying to make a joke?" she asked. "Because it's not funny."

"I know," M.K. said, sighing. "It's Rosemary, isn't it?"

"I don't feel right keeping her in that room like cell. She did nothing wrong, yet we're treating her like a prisoner."

"No, she doesn't get health care, three square meals, and a bathroom whenever she wants. We're treating her like she's in an old folk's home."

"She's still not old," Natalie pointed out, rolling back over and looking at the ceiling again. "I think we should at least have someone with her, you know, who cares and understands?"

"She has a traitor, she was a traitor, it's all good."

Before Natalie could object, they heard Rosemary's voice. "Do not call me Rose! Only Mandrake has permission to call me Rose! No one else! Got me?"

"What was that about?" M.K. asked.

Natalie sat up, horrified. "She lets Mandrake call her Rose?" she stammered.

"When I get out of here, you're dead! You hear me? Dead! I'll do it myself! You won't like long enough to see your next birthday! Dead!"

"I think she's mad," M.K. smirked. "Should we-?"

Natalie plopped down. "No, she lets a stranger call her something she doesn't let her own friends call her. She doesn't deserve to be saved."

"Okay," M.K. said, walking out. "I'm going to see Nod. Wanna come and see if Ronin's there?"

Natalie shot up. "Ronin?" she asked, squeaky. "Sure."

They walked out to see the Leafmen.

"Nod, you idiot!" Ronin yelled at him.

Nod smirked from Ronin's grip. "Hey, whoa, I'm right here, no need to yell."

"You did not promise M.K. that," he said, letting him down.

Nod straightened his shirt. "No, I promised that I would bring M.K. and you would bring Natalie. She didn't want to leave her here."

"I'm not doing it, and neither are you," Ronin said. "That's that."

He was about to turn when Nod grabbed his shirt. "Wait, you know it's the Queen's mother's sproutday, and you're just going to turn down your invitation?"

"No, I'm going, but not to socialize. You heard Rosemary, Mandrake could be coming to save her, especially if he knows the prophesy."

"But, he doesn't. Right?"

"That's what we thought, but if he didn't, Rosemary would be dead by now. He knew, found out she wasn't a Leafman, and spared her."

"He could have just been reluctant, curious how stupid a person could be to just wander into his domain and not expect anything, found out she wasn't a Leafman, and wanted to use her against us to win fights since we don't fight each other." They looked at each other. "Normally. I meant normally."

"Normally what?" M.K. asked, walking in. Natalie came in behind her.

Ronin straightened a little more so it looked like he was a professional stick. "Nothing, girls. I'm going to wish the Queen's mother a happy sproutday." He walked and then was stopped by M.K.

"Aren't you going to do it?" she asked him.

Natalie looked at them. "Do what?" she asked. "What is this big surprise?"

"No," Ronin said, turning. "Rosemary was right. Mandrake could be back. I have to protect the perimeter."

Natalie smiled. "I'll go with," she said, walking closer. "If you don't mind."

"Not at all," Ronin said, holding his arm out.

They walked out and left M.K. and Nod alone for the first time since they shrunk. They looked at each other and blushed.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said.

M.K. smirked. "About what?" she asked.

"Everything. Kidnapping Rosemary, making a promise I had no way of keeping, not checking up more, everything."

"You checked up every day." M.K.'s smirked turned to a full on smile.

Before Nod could say anything else, M.K. pulled him into a kiss. It was tender and loving. They stayed that way for a minute. When they pulled apart, they were breathless.

"You must have missed me," Nod said playfully. M.K. pushed him away just as playfully and smiled.

Nim walked in. "Where's Ronin?" he asked, more breathless than the love-birds. "I need to talk to him."

"Went to secure the tree for the sproutday party, why?" Nod asked, all playfulness leaving him.

"Mandrake, he's planning an attack. He didn't say when, but it's soon."

The sproutday party was festive and fun, and Ronin couldn't enjoy any of it. He could have, out with the lights and the sun out and Natalie flying behind him, with the jewels they found the stompers losing making beautiful colors in the tree. But, he had work to do, and no amount of color could check his responsible mind set. Natalie was behind him, quietly looking at the ground, Ronin looked at the skies, both trying to see any Boggans. Ronin saw no crows or bats, but the bats didn't surprise him. No matter how much Mandrake could control them, they still can't do anything at day time.

"Um, what do Boggans look like again?" she asked, poking his shoulder.

Ronin sighed. It was the third time he had to explain it. "You can't miss them. They're ugly, black, and I guess Stompers would refer to them as M.K. did. Big bugs."

"Like those?" she asked, pointing at a spot on the ground.

Ronin looked and saw a Boggan army charging into the party grounds. "Yup, those are the ones," he yelled, turning the bird around to get back to Moonhaven.

"Where are we going? Shouldn't we be fighting?" Natalie asked.

Ronin shook his head. "We need others," he responded, making the bird go faster.

Mandrake lead his second army to the other side of Moonhaven. "We have the power of surprise on our side here," he told his army. "If we stay quiet, they shouldn't know we're here. Are we ready?" The response came from hundreds of Boggans screaming. He yelled to quiet them, then pointed forward toward the tree. "Then let's go!"

He turned to the face of a Leafman's sword. "Don't even think about it," he warned, holding it to his face, closer still.

Mandrake sighed and shook his head. He took out his arrow and looked at the pointed end. The Leafman looked at him curiously, not letting his sword waver. The next thing anyone knew, the arrow that was so interesting to Mandrake was now in the Leafman's stomach. He grabbed at it and let go of his sword, stumbling backward. Mandrake watched him collapse on the floor. He walked up to the dying Leafman, pulled out the arrow, then sunk it deep into his chest, where his heart was.

"That should be the end of that annoyance," he said, lifting the arrow out of him and putting it back in its quiver and stood. "Let's go."

They started charging to the back doors, almost silently. Once they were inside, many Jinn people saw them.

"People, we're here on business, so if you value your lives and your family, you will report to no one we are here and do not scream," Mandrake said. He turned and saw his army. "You," he said, pointing to a mosquito. "Watch them from the shadows."

He walked forward and from the next door, he could tell their position was already given away. He was so into looking like he knew everything, he didn't ask which room lead to Rosemary, and walked right into a room full of Leafmen.

"Reinforcements," Ronin repeated. Natalie looked at her reflection in a jewel. When Ronin stopped talking, he turned to her and saw her straightening any knots and getting flyaway's to settle down. He walked over and appeared beside her in the pink jewel. "You look fine," he said, startling the poor girl.

"What?" she asked, trying to comprehend what he said. "Oh, yeah, it's just," she looked back at the jewel. "I don't know, I guess that I'm trying too hard."

"To do what?" he asked, looking at her and patting her shoulder.

Natalie looked at him. "To be perfect," she said, feeling embarrassed and immediately looking down again.

"You already are," he whispered in her ear. She looked up at him and smiled.

A couple Leafmen walked in the room, breaking the moment. "Mandrake's in Moonhaven," he said immediately.

"Mandrake wasn't even in the group," Ronin said.

Natalie face-palmed. "Of course he wasn't!" She looked up at the confused Jinn. "It was a diversion, meant to draw our attention away from his real scheme. He needed a distraction of other Boggans so he had half his group go one way, while the real threat would be on the other side."

"How do you know this?" Ronin asked her.

Natalie laughed slightly. "It's basic bad guy and criminal tactic. If they don't want the police to investigate their real plan, they make a fake one with some of their thugs and have them both at the same time, getting the police to look at the more immediate and important one, where they won't even do anything. They would just mess up a few things and scat, not even taking anything. I didn't know that Mandrake would think of something so obvious."

Ronin looked at the Leafmen. "Get Mandrake to stop, no matter the cost."

"Yes, sir," the two Leafmen said, running off.

Natalie watched Ronin turn to go the other way. "What do you think he wants?" she asked.

"Something so bad he's planning a diversion to do it?" he asked her. "Rosemary. He's coming for Rosemary."

"Let me go!" Rosemary shouted again, then gave up. Either he wasn't listening anymore, or he wasn't there. Anyway, she was done wasting her breath.

She sat on her bed of leaves and lay down. She was done, now it was up to Mandrake if she was ever going to get out. She moved her hand up and down the leaf. Suddenly, she felt it go softer. Looking at it, she saw it covered with rot. Confused, she picked another leaf and moved her hand over it. It looked the same for a moment, then became darker, turning to rot in her grasp. She shrieked and jumped back, dropping the leaf. She looked at it and thought she saw something, a ghost of Mandrake in Moonhaven.

He looked at it closer, concentrating on it. The image became clearer, sharper. He was walking, then had to stop to fight. The Leafman got a few good blows, almost knocking him over, and she couldn't watch anymore. Is this how he'll die? Because she couldn't follow a simple order and stay inside? She smiled slightly.

"At least I know he cares. At least he cares."


	7. Chapter 7

Mandrake pushed the Leafman off of him and pulled out the arrow he used to kill the one outside and stabbed the one who just recently attacked him. He pulled out the arrow and put it on the bow, shooting it at one that was covering his exit. Allowing his Boggans to give him a head start, he burst out of the room and into a hallway, closing the door and jamming it.

Turning around and running, he caught sight of a Leafman protecting a door. Behind it, he could hear dry comments about how stupid kidnapping really was. Mandrake took out another arrow and shot the Leafman, keeping his position in case any other Leafmen come and fend for the door. Seeing no one, he walked forward cautiously, watching his every step.

"You know, when you kidnap, it means you want someone to feel your pain," Rosemary said, plainly bored. "Were you ever kidnapped?"

Mandrake looked for the lock.

"It's okay if you don't answer," she said. "I'm tired. Are you tired? Are you asleep?"

Mandrake smirked. _You don't know the half of his condition, Rose,_ he thought.

"You know, sleeping on the job is frowned upon in the Stomper world. If you sleep, you could get fired, then never find a job again because you probably didn't go to college. Is it that hard to get a job here?"

Mandrake finally located the lock and sighed inwardly. He needed a key. Searching for one, he kept listening to Rosemary, feeling happy she still had enough strength to speak at all.

"I guess not, since your so called 'Queen' is a child. How hard was it for her to do that? Was it, like, a special ceremony?"

Mandrake finally found it on the guy that he shot's left pocket.

"Yeah, probably was. So, why do you hate Mandrake so much?"

He stopped and had to suppress the urge to laugh.

"You don't want to talk about it, do you?"

He walked back and had to relocate the lock on the door.

"It's okay, if someone tried killing me over and over, I would be a little upset at them as well. So, do you have a birthday?"

He found it and inserted the key inside before he lost it again.

"Is it even called a birthday here? Or is it something else?"

Mandrake opened the door. "No, it's called something else entirely," he said, looking at her from her bed.

"Mandrake!" she said, running into his arms. "You came for me," she whispered once she was in his arms.

Mandrake smiled and held her, closing his eyes. "Did you think I wouldn't?" he asked, moving his hand up and down her back.

She chuckled a little and put her head down gently on his shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw his smile. She laughed a little and started releasing him.

"We should go," he said, putting his arm around her. "The Boggans could be needing assistance."

Rosemary's eyes sparkled. "Then what are we waiting for?" she asked, starting to walk.

Mandrake ran to catch up and they walked the way he came in.

"Ronin!" Natalie screamed, coming over to his side and stabbing a Boggan with her knife she kept on her. He laid down and had an arrow in his side.

"Nod, get Ronin and Natalie out of here," M.K. said, bashing a Boggan in the head with the butt of a pistol.

Nod looked at her. "Since when are you in charge?" he asked, dropping another arrow on a mosquito.

"I have the gun," she said, shooting two Boggans that were about to finish the Leafman and her friend. "Just do it."

Nod sighed and ran over to the general and his little crush, shooting arrows at the Boggans that chased him. Once he reached them, he held out his hand to Natalie, helping her up. Once she was up, they both grabbed Ronin and hauled him to the nearest healing station, M.K. shooting any Boggan that got too close or aimed an arrow at them.

When they were out of the battlefield, Ronin started to groan. "What's happening? What is it?" Natalie asked frantic.

"He's got rot inside his body, what do you think is the matter?" Nod snapped.

Natalie looked at him, holding Ronin's feet so she could see where she was going. Nod was holding his shoulders up and looked back ever-so-often. Once they reached the healer's room, Nod yelled in.

"We need something."

The Jinn people took the dying body out of their hands and Nod ran back to the battleground, hoping M.K. was still alive with her special magical accessory. Natalie followed the Jinn to a bed in a room. It was a flower bed, that Natalie guessed was the white Camellia. They laid him down and one started attempting to pull out the arrow with as little pain as possible, while the others started making a medicine to stop the rot from going threw his system.

Natalie watched from the shadows what was happening. Ronin looked so helpless, getting help from flowers and weeds. At that moment, she vowed she would never pick another flower or weed another garden ever again. They were too nice.

One of them saw her and walked over. "He'll be alright," she said, smiling reassuringly. "He's done this before."

Natalie smiled, not believing a word the sunflower was saying, but not wanting to hurt her feelings. "Thanks, that means a lot," she said. The Jinn walked back over to the mess of trying to keep Ronin alive. "Right," she whispered, just standing there.

"You can sit down," the sunflower woman said, gesturing to a chair next to Ronin. "It helps the waiting."

"Thank you," Natalie said, walking to the chair.

She sat down and watched Ronin's pain stricken face as they tried to get the arrow out of his body. He groaned out in pain, and Natalie put her hand on his gently. Not expecting anything, and getting exactly what she expected, she looked at him and felt a tear fill her eye.

"Left here," Mandrake said, trying to remember how he got to her. "No, left? Wait, did we pass the painting of two Jinn's playing?"

Rosemary sighed and face-palmed. "Yes, two exits ago," she said, looking at him. "Do you even know where we are?"

"If you do not stop talking, Rose," Mandrake said. "I will put you back in that cell they placed for you."

Rosemary laughed. "You wouldn't do that. That would show you lost many Boggan lives for no reason what-so-ever."

Mandrake turned and looked at her. "Okay, Miss Smart-mouth, you tell me which way."

"Are you kidding?" she asked looking at him. "I don't know where you're going, and I was knocked out when they brought me here, so yeah, I know how to get to where we're headed."

"Back entrance," Mandrake said, looking at the ways again. "We're going out back. We have people there and the front."

Rosemary smirked. " 'It's always fresh in the Outback,' " she quoted a commercial she'd seen too many times on her phone.

"What?" Mandrake asked, confused if she was being a smart-mouth, a legit phrase, or if she was making fun of him.

Rosemary shook her head and heard the sounds of people screaming, and shouting. Then she heard the familiar sound of Natalie screaming. She looked up and focused her attention at the sounds. "It's behind us," she said, spinning on her heels and running.

"How do you know?" Mandrake asked, running with her.

Rosemary shrugged. "I just do."

The sight of blood always made Natalie want to curl up in a ball and throw up. This time was no different.

"We got it!" the Jinn people celebrated.

Ronin's face was a mixture of relieved and in the most pain and torture anyone could have put him under. The Jinn gave him the medicine they cooked up and had him drink. He sat up and drank all of it. When he laid back down, he turned his head to Natalie. He then followed her arm down to his hand.

Natalie blushed and tried to take it away, but Ronin grabbed it before she could. It wasn't hard, but it was startling enough to make her second-think taking it away.

"Thanks for staying with me," he whispered in agony. It wasn't because he didn't want the others to hear, it was because any louder and it felt like he would injure himself again. "I appreciate it."

Natalie smiled. "Don't mention it," she said, smiling.

Ronin smiled, then jerked back in pain. "The rot will take a couple of hours to get out of his system," one of the Jinn doctors informed her. "Don't expect him to feel any better to carry on a full-fledged conversation."

"Thank you," Natalie said, half-heartedly.

Ronin looked at her again and wiped a tear from her eye. "It's okay, I'll be fine." He smiled, and Natalie's heart skipped a beat. Even beat up and broken, the smile set her heart on fire.

"He should get some sleep," one of the doctors said.

The universal sign of get out and go on with life. "I'll see you when you get up," she promised, starting to stand. They let go of each other's hands and she walked away.

M.K shot at another Boggan. From where she stood, she could see everything. Including Rosemary and Mandrake charging in. She was just about to shoot them when who Rosemary, the girl she knew, really was. Someone in pain just trying to get someone to understand. She shot the Boggan next to them instead.

Mandrake let out his call to get the Boggans to leave, all the living ones. The ones that were attacking the front left when they realized their work was done and the distraction was to no avail. They all scurried out the exit, and M.K. got a few more shots in. Rosemary heard the shots and looked at her, pain in her eyes as she witnessed her friend shooting her workers with the present she got her. Mandrake got her attention back and they ran out of Moonhaven together.

M.K. looked at them go. After all the Boggans were gone or what was left of them were dead, she put the pistol back in the holster and jumped off of the shelf she was seated in. Looking at the wounded, many helping each other get to the healer's, M.K. caught sight of Nod. He was a little beat up, but didn't look like he was trying to go to the healer's.

"Hey, Nod," she said once she go to him.

He looked at her. "How do you look so good after a battle?" he asked.

M.K. smiled. "Not all the way," she said, showing him her gun-powdered hands. "One of the back-fires of a gun, other than the back-lash."

"The back-what?" Nod asked. Then he saw the gun in her holster and picked it out. "Looks pretty simple to me. So you just point it as someone, say a word, then it kills the said person?"

M.K. snatched the gun back. "It's not a toy, and you don't say anything to it," she said. "You point and shoot, that simple."

"Like an arrow?" he asked, looking at it. "A really small, compacted arrow?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, an arrow, except they're called bullets."

"And how do you shoot?"

M.K. smiled. "Come outside with me and I'll show you," she said, holding out her hand.

Nod smirked, took her hand, and they walked out of Moonhaven, M.K. trying to find a place she could shoot without hurting anyone.

Mandrake and Rosemary climbed the crow after the other Boggans boarded their birds. The bird lifted and started flying. Instinctively, she held onto Mandrake. The Boggan King chuckled and turned, having them face to face. They stayed quiet for a minute, just looking at each other.

"Are you okay?" Rosemary asked. "I saw you get attacked by a Leafman."

Mandrake looked at her questionably. "And how, pray tell, did you see that?"

Rosemary looked at him. "I honestly have no clue. I was just bored in the cell, then I moved my hand, then the leaf turned to rot, then I did the same thing to another one and you came up, fighting the Leafman."

Mandrake cupped her chin in his hand. "Can you show me this new trick?"

Rosemary nodded, then looked around. She noticed a leaf and grabbed it, almost being pulled off the crow with the force of how fast it was going and the sudden stop of trying to grab the leaf off the tree. Mandrake caught her before she was snapped off and the two strengths together took the leaf off the tree. They collapsed on each other, the leaf covering them.

Rosemary got up and saw Mandrake laying there, trying to get himself up. She laughed a little and helped him, smiling slightly at how they really looked to watchers. Once he was sitting up, she sat down and placed the leaf in front of them, moving her hand on top of it. It did nothing, and she tried again, confused. It still just sat there, and Rosemary started getting angry at the inanimate object, picking it up and trying it once again. It stayed the same green color.

"I don't understand," she said, putting the leaf down in defeat. "I could do it, I know I could. I guess, maybe it was a one-time deal."

Mandrake sighed, then thought of something. "What were you thinking about in the cell they put you in when you found out you could do it?" he asked, picking up the leaf.

"How it was up to you if I was going to get out," she said. "Part of me believed, the other didn't." She looked at him. "I should have believed in you more."

Mandrake smiled, then held out the leaf. "You were thinking of me?" he asked. "And what were you thinking of when you were just trying to do it again?"

She thought. "I was concentrating on the leaf, trying to make it turn."

"And it did nothing, probably because…"

Rosemary snapped. "I changed the variables!" she said, excited. Then she smacked her head. "Great, I think Natalie's getting to me. That's the second scientific thing I said this week." She grabbed the leaf from him. "So if I just concentrate on you, then I should be able to do it." She stared at the Boggan King and smiled slightly.

The feeling of rot moved out of her body, through her fingertips, and out onto the leaf. When she looked down, it was covered in black rot. Mandrake smiled, taking her hand. She looked up with an exited shine in her eyes.

"You did it," he said, smiling back at her. "Just remember, any type of magic comes at a very dark price."

Rosemary looked at him. Before she thought against it, she lunged herself at him, hugging him tightly. He hugged back, not sure what she was doing, though he was pretty sure a part of him liked it.


	8. Chapter 8

Natalie walked over to her room, head down. She lost her best friend, and might even be losing Ronin. She couldn't even warn her friend about that Joshua person. M.K. saw her and decided to just leave her be. It was clear she didn't want to be bugged.

Walking in her room alone, she looked up at her walls. She walked to the window and looked out, breathing in the air. She had to calm down, for Rosemary. She sighed, remembering the one inevitable thing. She trusts Mandrake more than she ever trusted her friends.

"Are you okay?" M.K. asked from the door, looking in.

Natalie snapped around and smiled. "Yeah, just thinking," she said, looking back out again. "How could we not know about any of this, you know, before?"

"I don't know," M.K. answered. "Though, I'm wondering why environmental weirdoes didn't go after anyone for the rot consuming the forest."

"They probably didn't know." Natalie sighed. "We have to warn her, M.K."

M.K. looked at her. "You mean?"

She nodded. "Rosemary has a right to know, it's her life, you know."

"But how will you tell her? Ronin doesn't want us to leave, and Rosemary probably won't be back too soon."

Natalie closed her eyes, letting the air gently touch her face. "Ronin doesn't have to know," she said, a tear falling. "He'll be kept out of the loop. If he survives, which with hope he will, then he won't know because we would be back by then, and if he didn't survive, then…" She closed her eyes and trailed off. "He won't know," she said finally, wiping her face.

"When did you become the adventurer?" M.K. asked, eyes wide. "So what? You'll just walk right up to their realm and hope they don't kill you?"

Natalie looked at her. "Well, what am I supposed to do? She could be growing into a trap if we get bigger!"

" 'When', Natalie. Not 'if', 'when'. We will get bigger." M.K. smiled. "And no matter what happens here, it won't affect our lives up there. We'll be there for her."

Natalie sighed and looked out the window again. Then, she turned and walked passed her. "Boggan or Leafman, she's our friend, and we have to save her."

Mandrake saw their army was about half, and they all gave their respects, though they didn't have their bodies. Rosemary was the most solemn of the group, since they were the reason that she was there, alive and well. While she was contained, some of the rot left her body, but came back when she was back at the base.

"Mandrake," she said, touching his shoulder as they were about to go on with life. He turned and looked at her, smiling at her. "Um, are we going to get more soldiers?"

"Of course, Rose," he said, smiling. "Once the farina mate, we'll have definite amount of Boggans."

Rosemary smiled. He was about to go away, and she smiled bigger. Following him, she wrapped her arm around his. "I'm sorry," she said after a minute.

"Sorry for what?" Mandrake asked nonchalantly.

Rosemary looked at him. "For not following orders and almost getting you killed."

"That would have happened anyway, you disobeying a direct order just made it quicker."

"Thanks for that," she said, glumly.

"Don't mention it."

Ronin sat up painfully, not caring no one wanted him to. He turned and stood up, completely ignoring the Jinn. Standing, Natalie walked in and ran toward him, helping him up.

"Thanks," he said, trying to get straighter.

The look of concern on Natalie made him smile. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Fine," he said, smiling encouragingly. "I've done this hundreds of times before."

Natalie smirked. "That's reassuring," she joked, pushing him a little. "You sure?"

"Yes," he said, starting to walk. "Fine."

"Okay."

They walked for a while when she couldn't take the silence any longer. "So, is it true you weren't supposed to get up for a while?"

"They never really know when I'm supposed to get up," he said, smirking. "Only I do."

Natalie sighed. "Can I go see what M.K.'s doing?" she asked.

"Sure," he said, adjusting himself so he could lean on the wall more. "Have fun."

Natalie smiled. "Thanks, Ronin," she said, hugging him.

She went to find her friend, and maybe even save Rosemary from the Joshua.

M.K. pointed the gun at a tree and shot. The noise ricocheted off the forest. "That's all there is to it," she said, looking at him. She handed her boyfriend the pistol.

"Okay just point and shoot?" he asked.

M.K. nodded. Natalie ran up to her. "M.K., let's go," she said.

"Natalie, no," M.K. said, shaking her head. "I thought Ronin was up?"

Natalie nodded. "Yeah, but he allowed me to see you, meaning he won't be keeping track of how long I'm gone."

"But if I come in without you?"

"You wouldn't," Natalie said, eyes wide.

M.K. took the gun from Nod after he started getting cocky. "Yes, I would. Nod, give that back!" she yelled, running after him.

Natalie sighed. "Guess I'm on my own," she said, starting to walk away from Moonhaven.

Mandrake and Rosemary were discussing battle plans when a shriek was heard not too far off. He went in battle mode and let out a low, loud growl.

A hand full of mosquitoes and other Boggans were dragging in a figure that was down. When they separated so their king could see, he put the rot staff in the throat of-

"Natalie?" Rosemary asked, surprised to see her friend. "What're you doing here?"

Natalie tried to stand, but if she moved any way, the rot staff would touch her and no one wanted to see what happened after that. Rosemary pulled Mandrake's arm back a little.

"What do you want?" he spat at her.

Natalie stood. "I'm here to warn Rose about something," she said, looking at her.

"I told you, not Rose," she said, then sighed. "Never mind. What do you want to warn me about?"

Natalie looked at Mandrake. "I'm not sure exactly, but… Is there a place we can talk alone?"

" 'Not sure exactly'?" Mandrake asked. "What do you mean 'exactly'?"

Rosemary lead Natalie to her room. Once they were there, Rosemary closed the door behind them. "What?" she snapped.

"Joshua," Natalie said. "Name ring a bell?"

Rosemary stepped back. "Here?" she asked.

Natalie shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that in the forest when we were talking to Bomba. Who is he, Rosemary?" She leaned forward.

"No one, get out before Mandrake figures that you aren't worth sparing."

Natalie stood. "Who is he?"

"None of your dang beeswax, now scat!"

Natalie started walking out of the cave. Rosemary walked strongly back to Mandrake.


	9. Chapter 9

That night, Mandrake sat next to Rosemary on her bed. They looked at each other, then Mandrake cleared his throat.

"So, about Joshua…" he said, raising an eyebrow.

Rosemary shifted her weight. "I thought you wanted to know about my mother," she said, looking at him.

Mandrake smiled. "But this Joshua mystery is so much more interesting. Please?" he asked, more a request then a real question.

Rosemary sighed. "You already know about Joshua. He was the dude who killed my dad, threatened me. That's all you really need to know."

Mandrake put an arm around her. "Then why is he still an issue? You were able to keep your part of the deal. He should just be a bad dream."

"It's not as simple as that, Mandrake," she said, looking at him, tears beginning to collect in her eyes. "When I was in the system, I was desperate for a family. Would have accepted anyone who would accept me. Not because I wanted to, but because I was sick of everyone else in foster care. He came over to me and said he wanted to adopt me. I had to agree, otherwise I thought he would think that I wasn't telling him something. Besides, he was the only one who looked at my past and said he chose me. He kept me at his house for a while, and when he was done and went to jail for his crimes, his girlfriend kept an eye on me, reporting everything I did to him. He should get out of prison…" She stopped, realizing the day. "Two days ago. And I was supposed to meet him at the hearing. Ah, man!" She put her hands on her head starting to shiver. Mandrake pulled her closer and heard that she was making a noise. Not a crying one, more happy.

"Are you okay?" he asked, curiously.

She lifted her head and smiled up at him. "If it's at all possible, if I stay here, he'll never find me. Can never use anything against me. Please, Mandrake?"

He patted her head. "Well, seeing as how there is no way to get bigger here, I guess we can work something out." He winked, making Rosemary blush.

"Thank you!" she said excitedly.

She wrapped her arms around Mandrake's neck, hugging him. He looked at her, then put his arms around her, a smiled playing across his face. She snuggled closed into him, then pulled back. He looked in her eyes and smiled. She was about to say something when he stopped her.

"It's, erm, my turn for the story," he said, smirking.

She nodded. "That it is," she said, same basic smirk on her face.

He leaned back. "Okay, so… How about my wife?"

Rosemary looked at him. "You were married?" she asked.

He nodded. "Before the Leafmen took her from me. We were sitting in the rot, holding hands. Dagda was just a larva at the time. There was a Leafmen attack, and they shot my wife. I killed a good handful, but that was the end of my wife. She turned to rot before my eyes. I still remember her last words. 'You can always love twice.' I didn't believe her at that time, but now I see she was right."

Rosemary smiled. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, hoping to hear the answer she'd been longing for since she started feeling.

"I see it all around me," he said, looking at her. "Now you must sleep. It'll be a long morning tomorrow."

She sighed. "Okay, goodnight, Mandrake."

"Goodnight, Rose."

Mandrake left her to think. Was he just flirting, in his own way, with her? She felt a smile tug on the side of her lips. She laid down, attempting sleep.

Mandrake walked down the halls, making sure the remaining Boggans didn't leave during the night, as they did when he wasn't looking. He still didn't know why the city excited them so, it was crowded, dirty, and had no forest to destroy. He counted them up, and then went to his room. His room was next to Rosemary's, and so he decided to check up on her. It was about an hour since he put her to bed.

She was shivering in her covers, wrapping herself tighter in her blanket. He walked in and, seeing how miserable she was, put his bat-skin on her, watching her start to warm her new blanket. He smiled, leaned over, and kissed her forehead. He walked out, not at all tired, so he decided to take one last look at the others. He knew they were all asleep, but he decided that they could just be faking it. He looked carefully at all the sleeping Boggans, knowing that if he stayed there long enough, they would be bound to move if they were awake.

After about two hours, he walked into his living room, seeing if there was anything that would signal the Leafmen to the hideout. He picked up some dead fly wings and mosquito legs. Sighing, he threw them outside and turned back in, running into Rosemary wearing the bat-skin like he always did. He stopped, surprised, then smiled.

"Did I wake you?" he asked, looking in her eyes apologetically.

Rosemary shook her head. "Nah," she whispered. "I was having a hard time sleeping. Thanks, by the way, for the skin."

Mandrake smiled. "Well, you do look good in bat." He started playing with the corners, adjusting it so it was straighter. He searched his mind for the right word. "It's… Pretty," he settled on, smiling.

Rosemary blushed, which was much more noticeable since she was ghost pale. "Thanks," she said. Then she looked up, humor in her eyes. "Look, I'm Batgirl!"

Mandrake's smile fell into a face of confusion. "What?" he asked.

She shook her head. "It's a Stomper thing," she said.

"Ah, I see," he said, smiling back. It was a flat out lie, he had no clue what that meant. "Let's get you back to bed, my dear. Big day tomorrow, remember?"

Rosemary nodded. "Yeah, I remember. Can I just… Can you answer a question?"

"Anything, my dear, anything. Name it."

Rosemary breathed in shakily. "What would happen if I was taken back to the Stomper world?"

Mandrake sighed. "My best guess is that your body will go back to the system it was before. You'll probably still have some rot in you, but not a lot. Still, this is just a guess." He put his arm around Rosemary. "Don't worry, your memory will still be intact."

"How do you know that?" she asked, looking up at his face.

He looked down and smiled. "Some days I would see your friend's boy talk to her like she was still here." They reached her room. "And here you go, Rose. See you in the morning."

She smiled and hugged him again. "Thank you," she said. She released him and walked into her room. "See you in the morning."

The bat skin flowed lightly behind her as she skipped to her bed. He smiled and walked to his room. It was pitch black through and through, so he stumbled over some things laying around. His eyes adjusted to the dark quickly, so it wasn't long until he found his bed. He laid his head down and fell asleep, Rosemary's face playing behind his eyelids.

Ronin sat up in his bed, all the other Jinn sleeping soundly. He walked outside, a painful look on his face as he kept moving. He walked around the outside, making sure there were no surveillance or Boggans planning an attack. He saw something moving in a bush and instinctively pointed his bow at it, arrow already cocked.

"Show yourself," Ronin said, voice full of authority, not at all how he was feeling.

Two hands came out of the bush. Not Boggan hands, Jinn and Stomper hands. He wavered his shot a little before he remembered Rosemary. He kept the arrow trained on the figure until it showed who it was. Natalie, tears rolling down her face, mumbling something.

"Natalie? What are you doing out here?" he said, putting away his arrow and bow and motioning her to come closer. He walked out a little.

Natalie ran into his arms, crying out. "It's my fault. She shouldn't have come. She's not herself anymore. Why did I think bringing her would make her not have any excitement? Excitement follows her everywhere. My fault, my fault, shouldn't have come…"

Ronin patted her hair down, listening to what she was rambling. "What do you mean, Natalie? How do you know?"

She wiped her eyes. "I went to warn her a-about Jo-Joshua and sh-she took m-my warning a-and then th-threw me out like I-I was nothing!" she cried.

"Wait, back up. You went where?" he asked, firmness in his voice.

She looked at the forest, pointing out. "T-to the w-one place th-that I n-knew I c-could f-find her." She took a shaky breath.

"Natalie, they could have killed you!" Ronin said, eyes wide.

Natalie looked at him and a fresh batch of tear came out. He wrapped her in his arms and let her cry. "I-I know, b-but I c-couldn't l-let her g-get h-hurt when sh-she went b-back h-home!" she wailed.

Ronin patted her hair down a little. "Hush, now. Shhh, it's okay. I was just concerned, that's all."

Natalie looked at him. "I'm s-so sorry," she said, eyes pleading forgiveness.

Ronin sighed and smiled. "It's okay, just don't do that again without someone accompanying you in the background, okay?"

"I-I thought th-that I w-would seem l-less thr-threatening if I did-didn't have anyone threatening th-them s-so they w-would be-believe me." She shook her head. "I-I guess I w-was wrong."

Ronin sighed and looked at her hair. "Wanna help me with the rest of my walk? Clears the mind."

Natalie smiled. "Y-you won't mind?" she asked.

"Of course not, besides, we'll stop by a river and have you clean up before you go to M.K. looking like that."

Natalie became suddenly very self-conscious. "What do I look like?" she asked, her breaths starting to become smooth again.

Ronin laughed a little. "Like you've been crying. We can't have M.K. asking what's wrong, can we?" He smirked lightly, raising her chin a little. "Chin up, the bird's close by."

Natalie smiled. "Thanks, Ronin," she said, hugging him.

Ronin hugged back. "No problem. What are generals for?" He smiled. "By the way, when did you leave?"

"About midday," she said. "After the fight, when I told you I was going to M.K. The original plan was M.K. and I go together and deliver the message, but M.K. didn't want to go so I went alone."

"Okay, and it took you this long to get home because…?" he asked, confused.

"I got lost."

"I didn't think anyone could get lost in the forest. Of course, what do I know?"

Natalie laughed. Ronin hooked their arms together and they walked to the bird deck. They both smiled and felt better with the other with them. Natalie because she didn't feel like talking to anyone else, and Ronin because he just always felt something lift off his shoulders when she was near.

M.K. looked like she was about to have a heart attack. Natalie was gone most all day, and she had to make excuses for her. She was worried sick. She almost couldn't go to bed that night, she was so concerned. When Natalie got to the room after the fly with Ronin, M.K. sighed with relief while Natalie sighed with love.

"Where were you?" M.K. demanded.

Natalie chuckled. "With Ronin. He's so wonderful!" She danced around in the room a little.

M.K. forgot about her anger and concern for a moment. "Did you and him…?"

"Not yet, but it was wonderful. It's so nice having him around." Humming lightly to herself, she fell on her bed. "Goodnight, M.K. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow."

M.K. remembered about what she was thinking about before. "Are you insane?"

"No, suspense is always fun," Natalie smirked, closing her eyes.

M.K. sighed. "Not that. You almost gave me a heart attack! Where were you all day?" she demanded.

"I got lost in the forest," Natalie said, blushing. "Ronin said he thought it was impossible to get lost in the forest."

M.K. glared at her. "Because it is!" she yelled. "There are two places you can go in the forest, Moonhaven and Mandrake's hideout. I can't believe you got lost going back and forth from BOTH places!"

Natalie sat up, angry at getting yelled at. "I'm sorry I'm new and the one person I wanted to come with me so I WOULDN'T get lost didn't feel like going with me."

M.K. glared at her. "You shouldn't have gone without someone!" she yelled back.

"And had people tell me I shouldn't do it at all? I needed to do it!"

"No you didn't!"

Natalie started feeling tears roll down her cheeks. "Ronin didn't judge me! He understood needing to warn a friend, Boggan or Leafman! Why can't you?"

M.K. picked up her shoe from the ground and threw it at her. "Because it was a stupid mistake that you shouldn't have even done!"

Natalie took off one of her shoes and threw it back at her. "Well, why don't you just stop pretending to be heartless and agree that I'm right!"

M.K. took her other shoe. "Because you aren't!" she said, throwing it at her friend.

It went on like this, picking up each other's shoes and throwing them at each other until they finally figured they were too tired to be doing it anymore and went to bed.

Nod sat up, hearing banging on the wall. "What the…" he asked himself, but thought better then to ask. After a few minutes, the banging and yelling were less frequent, and it stopped all together. Sometimes he really hated being in the room right next to two girls.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning, Natalie and M.K. looked at each other and started laughing like hyenas. The hugged, and looped their arms together. As they left the room, they say Nod walk like a zombie out of his. M.K. left Natalie and went to help him. Natalie walked alone, going to the breakfast table. Once she got there, she sat in the first spot she could find. It was next to Break, a muscle Leafman. She could easily squeeze through, because her genetics she's very skinny, no matter how much she eats.

M.K. followed with Nod close behind. They found two seats next to each other, and M.K. took the water that was supposed to be his and splashed it on his face, wakening him up unexpectedly. Everyone in the room laughed, even Natalie. She didn't feel very cheery, though she faked it for her friend.

Break looked at her pick at her food. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked, concern filling his muscular voice.

Natalie shook her head. "Don't know why. I haven't eaten since yesterday morning," she said, looking at Nod and M.K. How happy they looked, messing with each other. How carefree. Natalie sighed, and looked at her plate again.

Break put his arms around her, hugging her like a father would hug his young and confused daughter. "It'll be alright," he said, then put the plate closer to her. "Eat, you'll feel better."

"Thanks, Break," she said, smiling. "That means a lot." She took her food and ate it, though she still wasn't all that hungry.

Ronin came in and took a seat across from her, looking at her amused. She blushed slightly and looked down, smirking a little. She looked up again to see him eating and talking, joking with the other Leafmen.

Bronze, the guy on her left, and another muscle man, looked at her. "What's wrong?" he asked, sensing a distant feeling on her.

"I just hope Rosemary's having a good time where she is," she said, half truthfully. She really didn't want to talk about her real feelings in front of the strong men who you would feel stupid if they cried, and she already felt bad enough as it was without making anyone else have to suffer as well. She smiled at the men and finished her food. Once she was done, she walked out of the dining room, not in the mood to joke.

Walking down the hallway, she looked at what the others inside were doing. One was cleaning, the other building things. She walked to her room and stayed there, looking at the wall. It was more fun to watch nature grow than paint dry, as she did at her house to think. She was completely out of it when the there was a knock at the door. She jumped back into reality.

"Who is it?" Natalie asked, curious.

"It's Ronin," he said, opening the door slightly. "May I come in?"

Natalie smirked. "Why not?" she asked back, looking at the wall again.

Ronin came in, wearing his uniform, and sat on the same bed she was in, across from her. They sat there in silence for a while, Ronin being the only one finding the silence awkward. Usually girls talked a lot, didn't they? He cleared his throat.

"Is there a reason you ran off?" he asked.

Natalie snickered. "I did not run off, I walked."

"You so ran off."

Natalie looked at him. "You know what?" she asked, trying to find a good comeback. When nothing came to mind she sighed. "Never mind."

Ronin smiled. "So, what're you planning for later?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said plainly.

He cleared his throat. "Cool." He stood up. "See you when you get out."

"Bye," Natalie said, smirking.

When he left, she breathed out. He was so close to asking her out. It's not like she would have refused. She never understood playing hard-to-get. She thought that if you liked someone, then you should just ask. Unless you were shy and didn't want to ask first.

Outside, Ronin was mentally kicking himself in the butt. He debated going back in and asking her out. Wasn't that what they did every time they did the rounds, though? No, it had to be something special. He looked at the door, then walked away from it. He did have bigger problems than social ones.

He walked to the outside, taking in the breeze. He needed something to clear his mind. Rosemary would possibly be more powerful than any Leafman or Boggan has ever seen, and he's worried about asking a girl out. He sighed and looked out, seeing M.K. zoom past with Nod at her heels.

"Where are you going?" Ronin asked, confused.

M.K. laughed. "We're having a take two on learning the gun," she explained, smirking at Nod. "He couldn't quite get the grip last time."

Nod glared, trying to catch up. "Slow down!" he said, running into the forest with her, leaving Ronin alone.

He sighed, smirking at the couple. "You know, Natalie won't reject ya'," Manstre said, standing next to Ronin.

"What?" he asked, looking at him.

"Natalie. She won't reject you. She digs ya'," he repeated.

Ronin chuckled. "You have no idea how hard it really is, do you?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Manstre shook his head. "No, I don't. See ya', Ronin."

He left, and Ronin went inside to get Natalie. It was always more fun doing his rounds with her taking ground.

Rosemary sat up in bed, noticing the bat-skin was gone. She chuckled a little, knowing the only one who would dare to do that was Mandrake. She got out of bed and saw a Boggan at the door. She couldn't remember him, but she was still somewhat new.

"Miss Rosemary, Lord Mandrake requests your urgent appearance," he said, walking out. He popped his head in. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Yes I did, thank you," Rosemary said, smiling lightly at the Boggan. She didn't remember their names, either, but they all knew hers.

The Boggan smiled and left the room. She walked out, walking opposite the way the Boggan was going, and wandered to the throne room. Mandrake wasn't there, and she furrowed her brow. Unless there's been a change in plans, he should be here.

From behind, two Boggan hands covered her mouth and nose. She tried frantically to get away from the intruder, kicking, screaming, elbowing, head-butting, but nothing worked. She was starting to get light headed from lack of oxygen. One last failed attempt to break free, she passed out, being dropped lightly to the floor.

Mandrake got up from his bed not too long after and walked to his throne room. He saw some Boggans there already, looking at him confused.

"What?" he asked, looking at all of them. All he heard were grunts and mumbles. He expected none less, then saw his bat-skin on the chair. "Ah, Rose must have given it back when she woke up. Where is she?" he asked coolly, looking at the Boggan group. They all shrugged, and Mandrake furrowed his brow. He walked up to the chair and put on his skin, looking out at his people. "Find her!" he yelled when they just stood there. They ran off.

One Boggan came up. He didn't look familiar, though he couldn't remember what half of them looked like most of the time. He shook his head, grunted, then walked away, leaving Mandrake to wonder what the heck just happened.

When Rosemary woke up, she was light-headed. There were Boggans and Leafmen talking to each other, laughing. She stood up and looked around. "What the-"

"Oh, good," one of the Leafmen said. "She's up. Welcome to the Resistance."

Rosemary looked at them all. "The Resistance?" she asked, glaring at them all. "What are you resisting against, both sides are already made!"

The Boggan laughed. "She is funny, yes? I knew you would find her funny." He looked at her, smiling. "Mandrake like you best, he no think against you. He think you good. He will believe you. You bring him here, we kill him. Then you friend come. She bring Ronin and Queen. We kill them both. We become rulers."

Rosemary glared knives and daggers. "What makes you think I'll accept?" she asked, looking at the Leafman that was obviously the leader.

"We've been monitoring your actions, Rosemary, since you and your friends got here. You and your other friend, Natalie, will make beautiful companions in our cause," the leader guy said holding out his hand.

Rosemary looked at him cold. "Why us?" she asked. "And what would we do in this little rebellion? Why did you break apart? What's your main purpose?"

The leader smiled. "You and Natalie share certain… talents that no one else in the Jinn world possesses. You two have made the most powerful army men fall head over heels. Your role is very simple, tell your man to come with you, you have a surprise. He'll follow, of course. You must lead him to us, then we will do what is necessary in the survival of the forest. We all broke apart because we thought fighting each other was oxymoron where as working together and combining our talents, we could function much more easily. Our main purpose is to bring down the poison of violence that consumes this forest and destroying the forest. No matter which team wins." The leader smiled again. "Will you join us? We will soon save the forest."

Rosemary thought about it. "What if I refuse?" she asked.

"Then we will have no other choice then to kill you before you can warn Mandrake about any of this," another Leafman said, smirking evilly. Rosemary assumed he was the executioner.

"Just wondering. Of course I'll join, just," Rosemary paused. "When you see Natalie tell her 'Big Oak forest' from me, okay? And, let her go to think about it. She's very indecisive."

"Of course," the big Leafman said, smiling. "Anything to help a fellow Resistant."

Rosemary smiled kindly. "Of course. Thank you. Now, I must get back before Mandrake relies that I'm gone so we can, um, function this properly."

"But of course," the lead Leafman said, smiling at her. "I'm glad you made the correct choice."

Rosemary smiled and walked away from the camp, following her instincts that it was to her left. She jumped, turned in the air, and did anything to make it look like she was happy about her choice in case they had an ex-Boggan follow her. She glued a fake smile to her face. The only thing she could think of were two things. _I hope Natalie understands where to meet,_ and _I have to warn Mandrake._

Natalie walked down the hall, looking at all the surrounding people, hoping to find Ronin. There were a couple Leafmen that she didn't remember seeing around, but she didn't think it twice. They started following her, and then threw their hands around her, covering her mouth and nose. She tried to scream, but nothing would suffice. The world around her darkened, and she felt weaker. She dropped to the ground and was dragged into the woods, feeling nothing.

When she woke up, there was a Boggan on top of her. She screamed and punched him, getting up. There were Leafmen and Boggans all talking to each other. She couldn't tell what the Boggans were saying, so she looked at them curiously.

The Leafman looked at her and smiled. "Who are you? What am I doing here?" she asked, glaring at everyone.

"Testy, aren't you?" the Leafman asked. "You should at least say hello. No matter, you will have more time than others to join in. Welcome to the Resistance!"

"Join in what? What is going on?" Natalie said, fear striking with each heartbeat. She saw the Boggans look at her with curiosity. "Why me?"

The Leafman looked at her. "You know, you're a lot like your friend, Rosemary. She's testy, too. But she accepted, as you will soon. But first, I must give you a message. Rosemary said, 'Big Oak forest'. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Okay, thank you. I think I shall start my excavation," Natalie said. When a Leafman walked up, she held up a hand. "Alone."

She walked away, then ran when she was sure that they weren't following her.

"Come on, come on, Nat, what's taking you?" Rosemary asked herself, pacing in front of a tree. "Come on, come on, come on."

A noise was heard from the bush beside her, and she tensed herself, getting ready to fight the intruder. Natalie burst through the bush and looked at her.

"Who were those freaks?" Natalie asked once she caught her breath.

Rosemary looked at her, serious. "The Resistance. Natalie, it's crucial that you join them. They will kill you if you don't."

"What?" Natalie asked, eyes widening as she looked behind her. "They can't do that."

Rosemary looked at her. "They need you to take the Queen and Ronin to their camp so they can kill them. They expect me to bring Mandrake for that same reason."

"We won't let them. They can't make us. Rose, they can't do that!" Natalie started hyperventilating.

Rosemary held out a leaf for her. "Yes, they can. They're dangerous, Nat. I need you to do something else for me." She breathed. "At one o'clock tomorrow, Stomper time, I need you to bring the Queen and Ronin here. We'll strategize about what to do then."

Natalie looked at her, knowing it was important now since she didn't chew her out for saying 'Rose'. "Why can't we do it now?" she asked.

"Because you can't repeat directions very well, Natalie," Rosemary said. "We have to get started. Go back to the camp, let them know you accept, then go to Moonhaven. Pretend nothing bad is happening. Tomorrow at twelve-thirty, tell Ronin and your Queen to meet by this tree. I'll bring Mandrake, and we'll figure this whole thing out. Can you manage to do that?"

Natalie nodded. They split and Natalie looked ahead. She couldn't believe it. Ronin? Die? She couldn't handle that.

Rosemary found her way back and smiled at all the Boggans she saw. The worry in their faces was priceless. She found Mandrake tending to his staff slowly. She walked up and cleared her throat.

"Have you found her?" he asked, his voice sounding almost choked.

She smiled. "Well, I don't think I could lose me," she said, making Mandrake turn and relax.

His face turned stern again. "Where were you?" he demanded, looking worried. "You could have been killed. What if-?"

"I'm fine," Rosemary said, walking to him. "I was just getting some fresh air."

Mandrake looked at her unbelieving, then gave her a hug. It was like a hug a friend would give someone who they never expected to return. She returned it, tears of joy rolling down her face. When they pulled apart, they smiled at each other and looked into each other's eyes.

A Boggan cleared his throat, making them break from their earlier thought. "What?" Mandrake spat.

"You know your place, Rosemary. Don't forget it," the Boggan said, looking at the girl, playing with the fact Mandrake couldn't understand him. "You bring him to the camp. That's all. No getting too close."

Rosemary faked a smile. "Of course," she said. The Boggan left. "He was just pointing out the obvious that I was here," she said to Mandrake.

He picked up his staff. "Of course," he said, looking at her. He walked to the throne. "I think you're hungry, yes?" he asked, giving her a bat.

"Thanks," she said, eating it. She didn't relies that she could still eat and not really be hungry. She smiled at everyone, sitting at the steps of the throne room.

Mandrake sat next to her, stealing piece of the wing. They looked at each other and smiled. She kept eating, thinking of how she could trick him into coming with her anywhere. Well, she had a night to figure it out.


	11. Chapter 11

Natalie walked over to Ronin and all the Leafmen, smiling like nothing was going down. She couldn't have them know now, they shouldn't. Not until tomorrow. She walked over to M.K. and smiled.

"What's wrong?" M.K. asked, making Natalie jump.

"What do you mean?" Natalie asked, looking at her.

M.K. smirked. "I know you, Natalie, and you're nervous," she said. "What's wrong?"

Natalie looked behind her at the Leafmen. "Can we talk somewhere less populated?" she asked, nodding at them.

M.K. saw Ronin and smiled. "Sure," she said. They walked to their room. "What'd he ask you?" she asked when they closed the door.

Natalie looked at her. "Nothing, it's not about him. Well, it is, but not that. I can't tell you, Rose said I couldn't tell anyone until tomorrow at one thirty, and only Ronin and the Queen."

"Okay. Wait, you talked with Rosemary? Again? Nat…"

Natalie looked at her. "It's not like I could have avoided it. It's- nothing."

"Okay. What are you going to-"

"Nothing, okay? Just leave me alone!" Natalie ran to her bed and slammed on her pillow.

Mandrake smiled at Rosemary, seeing her try to control her powers. She kept throwing things around when she couldn't figure it out. He chuckled slightly to himself, looking at her glare at him. He shrugged and stood up, getting ready to fly. She ran over to him and looked him.

"You leaving?" she asked, taking her breaths lightly.

He nodded. "I'll be back, Rose. Just have to check up on something." He put his hand on her shoulder.

While he was walking, Rosemary skipped to catch up. "Can I come with?" she asked, looking up at him. "It's boring here, no offence."

He looked at her and smiled. "None taken. Well, okay. Let's go." She smiled and walked with him to the crow.

They boarded on it, making it squawk a little in protest. Mandrake got it started and they flew. Rosemary didn't know, nor care, where they were going. She was happy to leave the cave for a while. Looking down, she saw some bugs walking around. She looked up at Mandrake, who was concentrating on getting the bird to cooperate. She pet the bird's head, and it stopped fidgeting. Mandrake looked at her and she smiled lightly.

"Sometimes they just need to be loved," she said, looking at him.

He nodded and smiled back. They turned left and flew for a couple minutes. Rosemary decided to rest her head for a minute until they got there. Mandrake flew next to a flower and killed it landing. A car rushed by, nearly blowing Rosemary off the bird. She woke to Mandrake holding her wrist, making sure she didn't get lost. She saw where they were. A highway. She smiled. She knew this highway. She climbed on the bird again and wrapped her arms around Mandrake's mid-body.

"So, where are we going?" she asked, looking at him hold the bird. Another car rushed by.

"Well, I wanted to explore your world, Rose. Learn about your friends, family, Joshua…"

"No," she said abruptly. "I mean, no you shouldn't. Joshua wouldn't be able to actually meet you, so it would be a wasted effort."

He smirked and held her closer as another car passed by. "You can learn a lot about a person before even talking to them if you observe them closely enough," he explained. "Such as, the first person who passed us by was self conscious, very confused, frightened, and tense."

"A new driver," she put together. "O-okay, yeah. I mean, as long as we know where they live…"

"They?" he asked, then remembered about his girlfriend. "Ah, yes, they. They wouldn't have moved without you, would they've?"

"Yes," Rosemary said, looking at him.

Mandrake looked at the front of the bird again. "Well, I know you know something about them to help us find them," he said, smirking. "Their car."

"No, Mandrake," she said in fear. "I've seen what happens to bugs that go in peoples' cars. They die, Mandrake."

He looked at her with adventurous eyes. "I bet you know how to get out of those sticky situations, don't you, Rose?"

She blushed a little. "Yeah, I do."

He smirked. "Then let's go," he said, having the crow land on the mirror. The window was opened with a puppy sticking its head out of the window. They walked into the car and sat in the dashboard. They looked at each other, then at the dog.

"I love puppies," Rosemary said, smiling. "When I was younger I always wanted a puppy, but my parents were allergic and Joshua never liked me enough to get me one."

Mandrake looked at her. "Maybe you'll get one now, since you're old enough."

She smiled. "Yeah, I guess so," she said, laughing slightly. "Did you want any animal when you were a young… Um…"

"Larva?" he said, answering the unasked question.

She chuckled. "I guess. So, did you want a pet when you were a… Larva?"

He shook his head. "Nope, all I needed was the knowledge that separated my family from the rest of the Boggans." He looked at her. "I sometimes hear children go through the forest and complain about something they call school. What is that?" His eyes were curious.

She rubbed her head. "Something most… Stompers don't appreciate in America. Some people tell the children people in other countries would kill for a chance to go to school."

Mandrake leaned back, his arm in a ninety-degree angle. "And what do the children do after their told that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rosemary laughed. "They protect their skin and still hate it."

"What happens at this 'school' people seem to despise?" he asked, leaning toward her slowly.

Rosemary looked at him and smiled. She wrapped her arms around her legs and laid down, looking at the ceiling. "You learn about some stuff that are supposed to help you in life. So far, nothing I learned there helps me here." She chuckled. "Except science."

He looked at her form. "Is that how stompers usually think?" he asked, mimicking the movement.

She looked at him and chuckled. "No, it's just my butt was starting to hurt so I had to adjust." She pivoted her body so her body was pointed to him. "So, Boggans don't have school?"

He shook his head. "No, they're not… let's say 'smart enough'. We tried, but they didn't seem like they were paying attention."

"Neither do any of the hu-Stompers," she said, shaking her head when she adjusted her word.

He chuckled. "I could tell," he said, winking at him. "Also, we had a communication problem." She looked at him strangely. "My family couldn't understand any of what they were saying, so we didn't know if they were saying the correct answer or not."

Rosemary chuckled. Mandrake stood up and helped her up. "Come on, let's get going."

The ground started to bounce, making them both fall again, Mandrake under Rosemary. The doors started opening slowly, and two people, a woman and a man, got in and closed the doors, making the two bounce bigger. The woman screamed.

"Honey," she said, her voice dragged out an slow, but a few octaves higher than normal. "There's a bug in the car."

Mandrake scowled. "I am anything but a bug, I am a highly intelligent Boggan, you Stompers!" he shouted, making Rosemary cover her ears. He looked down at her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Just kill it," the man, who will be referred to as Honey, said. "You're too jumpy, Jen."

Jen looked at him. "Well, you know what?" she asked. "Why don't you kill them?"

Honey glanced over and started the car. "I'm driving, and the music is too loud," he said, rolling his eyes and turning up the radio.

Jen glared at him. "You are such an idiot!" she shouted.

"I can't hear you!" Honey shouted back.

Mandrake looked at Rosemary. "Are you okay?" he asked, his hands covering his ears.

Rosemary had her hands doing the same. "Yeah, I am," she said, smiling. She looked at the doors, the windows were up. "We're trapped." Tears came from her eyes. "It's, like, seventy-degrees."

Mandrake looked at her, confused at the horror in her eyes. "What?" he yelled.

"The air conditioner," she said, she wiped a tear from her eye, slapping her hand back at the ear to save her hearing.

He looked at her. "The what?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Let's get in the back," she said, grabbing a torn piece of paper off the dashboard. She waved him over and he followed, trying to figure out what she was doing. "Wrap your arms around me," she basically shrieked. He did so and she jumped, getting caught in the cool wind current. They were shot to the back seats and landed on the back of the seats. They slowly dropped to the bottom and sat down. The music was quieter and it wasn't as bad.

But there was still the dog.

Natalie looked at M.K. "I'm sorry," she said, making her friend jump.

"Sorry for what?" she asked, wiping sleep out of her eyes.

She sighed. "For snapping at you. Look, if I can get you approved in this plan, then I'll tell you, but for now it's need-to-know, and quite frankly, you don't need to know."

M.K. sighed. "Okay, that makes sense." She looked out. "I wonder what Rosemary's doing."

Natalie looked at her. "Probably helping." M.K. looked at her. "Need-to-know."

M.K. sighed. The door knocked. "Come in," they said at the same time.

Ronin and Nod came in and sat down. "How are you, girls?" Nod asked, looking mainly at M.K.

"We're fine," M.K. said.

Natalie nodded. "Yeah, fine," she repeated.

Ronin looked at Nod, and he nodded, standing. "Come on, M.K., let's go get some shooting in," he said, making a gun in his hands.

"Will you shoot straight this time?" she asked, getting up.

Nod shrugged. "Only time will tell," he said, winking and running out. M.K. grabbed her pistol and followed.

Ronin sat next to Natalie. "You okay?" he asked.

She laughed half-heartedly. "What do you mean? I'm fine," she said, pretending to not have a care in the word.

He looked at her, eyes looking in hers, as if it was boring through her and could see she was lying. She shuffled nervously and started avoiding his eyes. He put his hand under her chin and made her look at him. It wasn't rough, but it was enough to have her head face him.

"Natalie," he said, a mixture of authority and concern in his voice. "You really stink at lying." His eyes were all business.

Natalie sighed. "It's something that you'll find out about later," she said, eyes avoiding his gaze.

He looked at her carefully. "Okay, is it going to affect the surveillance tonight, 'cause you can skip today."

"No," Natalie said, smiling up at him. "No, I'll be good. It's just confusing, that's all."

He sighed and shook his head. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," she said, standing up. "Let's go."

Ronin chuckled. "It's not even lunch time," he said, grabbing her hand lightly. "We have time."

She sat down and they started talking to each other about random things.


	12. Chapter 12

During the watch, Natalie sighed. Ronin looked over at her. "What's the matter?" he asked.

Natalie smiled. "Just, can you and the Queen come over to the forest with me at one?" she asked.

Ronin looked back in the air in front of him. "Sure, just need to know why," he said, smiling at her.

She sighed. "I was afraid you would say that," she said miserably. She looked down, then furrowed her eyebrows. "What's that?"

"No changing the subject now," he chuckled.

She shook her head. "No, I'm serious."

Ronin looked down and saw a mosquito. He rolled his eyes and started down, landing in front of it.

"What do you want?" he asked, holding out his bow and pointing his arrow.

It shook his head, eyes wide. It started grumbling and snarling something neither of them could understand. "Oh, if only Mandrake or Rosemary were here, maybe they could figure out what it's saying," she sighed, leaning on Ronin. He sighed and pat her head.

"Wait a minute," Ronin whispered. He looked at the bug again. "Where is Mandrake and Rosemary?" he demanded. The mosquito shrugged.

She looked at it. "You mean they're missing?" she asked.

Ronin looked at her. "You can understand them?" he asked.

"No, I understand body language," she replied.

He nodded slowly. "Okay."

Natalie jumped off of the hummingbird and walked over to the Boggan. "Where were they last?" she asked.

It started growling and making other noises. They looked at each other and sighed. Ronin started up the bird again. "Come on, Natalie. Let's get back to the castle." He shot the bug and helped Natalie back up. She smiled and took his hand, climbing. Ronin started up the bird and lifted them away, hoping that she would make more sense now with others.

Rosemary backed up slowly away from the drooling dog, Mandrake right behind her. "What's the plan?" he asked, looking at the top of her head.

She gulped. "Should I know? I've never been in this situation before," she said, backing faster as the dog came closer.

Mandrake stopped, making her bump into his front. He turned and pointed. "What about that?" he said, looking at the window.

She sighed. "The window? Not very open, is it?" she asked. She looked at the dog again, and it started whining. "I think it needs to use the bathroom," she said, petting the dog's paw.

"The what?" he asked, looking at her touch the animal. "Rose, get back here."

She looked at the window. "Wait," she said, thinking. After a couple minutes, her face lit up and she snapped her fingers. "I got it. We just need the puppy's help."

Mandrake stayed away from the beast. "What?" he asked. "Rose, come over here." He started forward, then stopped as the dog started growling.

"Quiet, Amber," Honey said, looking at the dog. "Oh, do you need to go to the potty?" He pulled over.

Rosemary reached out for Mandrake on the dog's leg. "Come on, this is our only chance," she screamed over the music.

Mandrake sighed and grabbed her hand. The man opened the door and the dog ran out at full speed. Rosemary held tighter to the dog's fur and Mandrake climbed to the leg. Once they were outside and the dog was doing his business, they both jumped down and looked at each other. Rosemary's eyes were wide and she was smiling wider. She looked at Mandrake and hugged him. "Let's never do that again," she said.

He nodded. "Yeah, good idea," he said, looking at her. "That was pretty fast thinking."

She nodded and laughed. "Well, all Stompers know that if the upholstery was that nice, it was new, and no one wants a dog to use it as their restroom." She sat down and looked at the sun, closing her eyes.

Mandrake sat down with her and looked at her. "We should get back to the cave," he said, picking up his rot staff.

"It's amazing you still have that thing," she said, getting up.

He looked at it. "Yes, it is," he said, starting to walk away. Rosemary jogged to catch up and walked next to him for a while.

They got to the cave and hopped in, the Boggans looking at them, some relieved, some confused. Mandrake held up his hand, signaling them to separate to form a path for the two to cross. When they did, Rosemary looked up at Mandrake, then grabbed his arm like the first time they did this.

Natalie and Ronin walked to the Queen's headquarters. "I hope you know what you're doing, Nat," he said, sighing.

"Me, too," Natalie said, sighing.

They walked up to Queen Dandelion Jinn and knelt. The queen stood and smiled. "What may I help you with?" she asked.

Ronin stood, so Natalie followed. "My queen, Natalie says that we must accompany her out to the forest tomorrow," he said. "It will not interfere with your plans, will it?"

She thought for a moment. "I do not believe so," she said, smiling. "What time?"

"One o'clock, you're majesty," Natalie said.

The young queen nodded. "Yes, I think that would do nicely, as long as we're back at the castle by three," she said, looking at Ronin.

"Yes, you're highness," he said, bowing once more.

The young queen nodded. "You are excused," she said, sitting down once more.

"Yes, you're majesty," Natalie said, bowing once more and leaving with Ronin.

"It's getting late," Ronin said. "We should bring you to your room."

Natalie looked at him. "But what if there's someone at the gates?" she asked. "We should have one last look around before we go to bed."

Ronin smiled at her and looked ahead. "I'll do it, you go to bed," he said.

She sighed. "Okay," she said glumly. "But what about-"

"If I know Mandrake, that was just a ploy to get us to stop everything and go to his place for an attack," he said, looking ahead. "Besides, if they're really missing, we'll find out when we go to where we're meeting."

Natalie nodded. "That's right," she said, sighing.

Ronin looked at her and smiled crookedly. "Don't worry, she'll be fine," he said. "She survived this long."

Natalie nodded and tried to smile back. When they reached the room, Ronin rubbed the back of his neck. "See you later, Natalie," he said, holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Later," she said, shaking his hand. They let go and Natalie went inside, getting tackled by M.K. "Hey," she said, hugging her friend.

M.K. looked at her. "Where were you?" she asked, frowning.

"With Ronin," Natalie answered.

M.K. smiled. "Oh," she said. "Well, heard you were taking the Queen somewhere special. Can I join?"

Natalie rubbed her arms. "I don't know, they didn't ask for you," she said.

"Wait, they?"

A knock came from the door and a black Leafman walked in. "Natalie, we need to speak with you," he said.

Natalie nodded. "Okay," she said. "Can M.K. come?"

"Mary Katharine is not authorized to help us," he said, looking at Natalie. "Come."

Natalie frowned and followed him out. "Okay," M.K. said. "I'll just sit here."

Rosemary was laying on her bed, watching the ceiling, when a Boggan marched in. "Yes?" she asked.

"You're needed by the Resistance," he said.

Rosemary sighed and nodded. "Okay, let's go," she said, getting up. Mandrake walked up behind the Boggan and he cleared away from him.

"Go where?" Mandrake asked, looking at her.

Rosemary smiled and hugged him. "Out for something," she said. "I'll be back. I have to… Finish making the surprise."

Mandrake smiled. "A surprise?" he asked. "Ah, Rose, you shouldn't have."

She smiled. "Well, I won't be able to unless you let me go," she said, laughing.

He smiled and looked at her. "Okay," he said, leaving the hug. She let him go as well. "You'll need supervision," he said.

She pointed to the Boggan that came to fetch her. "I'll go with him," she said.

He shrugged. "Okay," he said. "Come back soon."

She smiled. "I will," she said, leaving with the Boggan.

They left the cave and went to the meeting.

When the girls got there, the Leafman that recruited them in the first place was standing there. "Well, well, well," he said, smiling. "Glad to see you could make it."

Rosemary nodded and faked a smile, grabbing Natalie's hand. "Wouldn't miss it for the world," she said. "Is this, like, a weekly thing?"

The Boggan that helped her there laughed. "No, this just check up, yes, just check up," he said.

Natalie, who couldn't hear anything, smiled. "Of course," Rosemary said. "Only a check up, Natalie."

Natalie nodded. "Right," she said, looking at the others. "Just…"

"That's not all," the Leafman said, standing at attention. "Our leader wishes to meet you face to… erm… face."

Rosemary shrugged. "Okay," she said, thinking it was someone like the Queen or Mandrake or someone.

He nodded and motioned for them to follow. They did and walked into a darker part with a few plants and rot, seeming to live together in harmony, even though Rosemary could feel the rot trying to overwhelm the plants, and Natalie could feel the plants trying to survive. Rosemary kept following the Leafman, testing to see if her magic could work here. A sunflower wilted and died in her grasp and she smirked. Natalie looked at her and sighed.

The Leafman knelt at a throne. "They are here, my lord," he said, looking up.

A Boggan with a rat skin turned and looked at the two girls. "Well, well, how wonderful," he said, smiling. "The two who will help us take over the forest."

"Isn't that what Mandrake's trying to do?" Natalie asked, and Rosemary looked at her, surprised that she could hear him.

He snarled. "I am nothing like Mandrake," he said. "Rosemary should know the only resemblance." He looked at her calmly.

Rosemary tilted her head. "Dagda? But, Mandrake said you were…"

"Dead?" Dagda asked. "He thought so, didn't he. The hallucinating machine worked wonders with him, he doesn't expect a thing." He started laughing coldly.

"Why?" Rosemary asked, looking at him sadly. "Your father loved you."

He stomped toward her. "My father was blind," he said in her face. "He never could see the benefits of working with the Leafmen. As is the Queen, who can't figure out how loyal a Boggan is if you tell them the right things." He grabbed her chin harshly. "Stompers, on the other hand, are an entirely different case. Cheating, stealing, spying, very untrustworthy creatures." He smirked. "Which is how I know you can help me."

Rosemary pushed him away from her, a blast of rot doing most of the moving. Natalie, the Leafman, and Dagda looked at her unbelieving. "Rose," Natalie whispered.

"Don't call me that," she growled. "I hate that name. Stop it." Dagda grabbed her arm and she kicked his chin. "Don't touch me," she said.

Dagda growled. "Show her out," he commanded the Leafman. "See that she is watched."

The Leafman nodded and grabbed her arm, which she made his hand turn to rot. He retaliated and investigated his hand. "I know my way," she said, walking away. "No need to watch me."

Natalie looked at Dagda in fear and walked backward. "You're the smart one, aren't you?" he asked, walking toward her. He leaned into her face and snarled, "Remind her that I'm in charge here, got it?"

She nodded and ran out. It was already almost one.

Rosemary skipped over to the hole when a group of five Leafboys surrounded her. She looked at all of them, growling. "You're the traitor, huh?" one of them asked.

Another scoffed. "Barely looks suitable," he said.

"Now, now," the third one said. "She could be bashful."

The fourth one laughed. "Let's see," he said, walking toward her.

The fifth one held her down and the fourth one ripped off her shirt, then smirked, taking off her jeans. The fifth one nodded and they ran with her clothes. "You idiots!" she said, barely thinking straight enough. She covered her body in shame and cold, looking up. "I can't go to Mandrake like this," she whispered to herself.

She stayed there for a minute before Mandrake started looking for her. "Rose?" he called. "Where are you?"

"Stay away," she yelled back, starting to cry. "Don't come any closer."

Mandrake followed her voice and found her. "There you are," he said, walking toward her. "Some surprise." He looked at her and frowned.

She looked at him, keeping her front covered with her hands and legs. "Do you not understand English?" she asked.

"Will you believe I just don't care?" he asked, smirking and sitting. "You okay?"

She shook her head. "No," she said. "I'm cold and exposed and…" She started crying again.

He sighed and started to take off his bat skin. She looked at her and shook her head. "What?" he asked.

She shook her head more violently. "I couldn't," she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

He smirked. "Come on, Batgirl," he said, putting it on her.

She chuckled half-heartedly. "Yeah… Oh, no," she said, face palming and looking at the sky. "We're late," she said, getting up.

"Late for what?" he asked.

She started walking. "Follow me," she said.

Mandrake did. "I hope this is important," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders.

"It is," she said. "More so now than before."


End file.
